| Launching the Hanoi Handicraft Product Design Contest 2024 Hanoi and Nordic businesses cooperate to design and promote handicraft products |
The first time I met Ms. Tran Tuyet Lan - Director of Craft Link Social Enterprise Joint Stock Company (Craft Link) was in 2013 at the Traditional Handicraft Fair organized by Craft Link. I was deeply impressed by her bright smile with two deep dimples, graceful in the ao dai decorated with brocade patterns, enthusiastically introducing each product of ethnic minority groups to foreign tourists.
Having known her for over 10 years, I have grown from being interested to admiring her dedication to ethnic minorities in the journey of restoring and developing traditional crafts. Her story of preserving the traditional craft has inherited the spirit of mutual love of the nation, while also having a modern touch, which is worth learning.
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| Ms. Tran Tuyet Lan - Director of Craft Link Social Enterprise Joint Stock Company. Photo: Viet Nga |
Craft Link was established in 1996, and in 1997 she started working at this organization. According to her, Craft Link was established under the name of the Center for Research, Linkage and Development of Handicrafts (Craft Link) by 8 project officers working at 8 different international organizations in Vietnam. At that time, there were many traditional craft development projects implemented by Craft Link to support poverty reduction but they only lasted for 1-2 years. After the project ended, no one continued to support people in updating market information, and the products were outdated compared to demand. At that time, the 8 project officers thought that it was necessary to establish a post-project development center in Vietnam to continue supporting people in restoring their handicraft skills, restoring and preserving cultural traditions for future generations and increasing income.
“ At the end of 1997, I started working at Craft Link as a director. After 1 year of working, we realized that just helping groups sell products was not enough. Groups needed support to improve their own internal strength to rise up, manage the group and develop sustainably. That is why from 1998 onwards, Craft Link added a development area, which is to support capacity building for groups ,” said Ms. Lan.
Over the years, with the social enterprise model, Craft Link's profits have been funded for development projects to support ethnic minority groups in remote areas. Each project lasts for 2 years, after which another project is implemented, with some years Craft Link carrying out 4-5 projects. Currently, more than 60 production groups across the country have been supported, with more than 6,000 beneficiaries, including ethnic minority groups, craft village groups and disabled groups.
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| Ms. Tran Tuyet Lan and Craft Link strive to bring traditional handicraft products to the world market. Photo: Viet Nga |
For more than 26 years, Ms. Lan and Craft Link members have been working hard to bring their products to the world market. From the initial small budget to the support of international organizations, Ms. Lan and CraftLink have participated in many international fairs to introduce their products. Normally, each fair lasts about a week, but 3-4 months before that, the business has to plan and train production groups on the products, complete samples to display and introduce to the public, and find markets for those products.
During the fair, the designers come up with a plan to display the products and culture of all groups in the most beautiful way. This is an extremely difficult task, because the patterns, designs, and culture of each group are different and must be arranged to have a common voice and follow market trends.
“ In addition to participating in international fairs, we also participate in many online marketing activities through fanpages, Instagram, Shopee, Alibaba... Our customers also have an online sales system that helps spread and support groups to consume many products. Our products through Craft Link are very popular with European and American consumers, ” Ms. Lan shared.
Ms. Lan also said that at present, due to the reduced market consumption, the lives of production groups are much more difficult, especially many production groups are weakened when members are depleted, skills need to be restored, and the organizational structure of the groups needs to change accordingly. Therefore, in the coming time, CrafLink will focus resources to support groups to consolidate their organizational structure and develop products so that the groups can continue the production cycle of bringing products to the market.
Promote more strongly so that the public understands and supports the production groups. Specifically, this year CraftLink continues the series of craft demonstrations so that the public can visualize and feel more accurately the work of the enterprise. Increase the exhibition of products and traditional culture of ethnic minorities on a large scale to introduce the cultural traditions of ethnic minority groups that are typical of some regions. Carry out projects to support new groups, starting with the Tay ethnic group in Yen Bai, continuing to support 3 Thai ethnic groups in Mai Chau, Hoa Binh province and Ky Son, Nghe An province.
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