Fascinated by ancient beauty
Every Tet holiday, the miniature model workshop of Mr. Nguyen Phuc Duc (living in Ho Chi Minh City) is bustling. This year, Mr. Duc launched the product "Saigon in miniature", focusing especially on the details of the traditional Tet holiday, making many people fascinated.
The old Tet model of the 8X guy makes many people nostalgic (Photo: NVCC).
The young man said that the inspiration for this year's model was his true memories of Ho Chi Minh City during the old Tet holiday. According to Mr. Duc, it is difficult to imagine and feel the "taste" of the old Tet holiday through just a photo. But with the miniature model, viewers can easily see the real scene, through meticulous details, fully depicted.
"The most memorable memories are of family, memories of grandparents and parents. I made this model to satisfy those personal feelings. It was only later, when I received more and more support from everyone, that I developed it into a community emotion, no longer within the framework of personal emotions. Many children living far away from home want to recall the days of celebrating Tet with their grandparents and parents," said Mr. Duc.
The young man shared that all of his products must aim at family reunion. Because he believes that as time passes, relatives such as grandparents and parents will gradually no longer be with their children and grandchildren.
With the desire to recreate beautiful memories, especially for those far from home, Mr. Duc believes that all of his products must aim at family reunion.
Not only that, special things like wooden houses and old settings are also replaced by modernity. The next generation wants to find those settings again to reminisce, but it is very difficult.
"There are things that can never be recreated once they are lost. Therefore, I hope these old Tet models can help people feel nostalgic," said Mr. Duc.
Not only domestic customers, but also overseas Vietnamese people also rely on his model to help them feel less homesick.
Looking at the "miniature Saigon" model, prominent details such as tables, chairs, altars, Tet couplets, etc. are also clearly sketched by Mr. Duc (Photo: NVCC).
The young man confided that many foreign guests of Vietnamese origin shared their feelings about rediscovering the traditional Tet scene in Vietnam, which made him emotional.
"The most memorable is a girl from abroad, she said she cried when she saw my model. Just looking at a corner of the house in the model, she somehow remembered her father, then remembered the days when she was in Vietnam celebrating Tet. Those are extremely touching stories, also a source of inspiration and motivation for me to continue this journey," said the 8X guy.
It is known that, in addition to making miniature models for Tet, Mr. Duc also makes many other models such as coffee shops, grocery stores, etc. of ancient times. In the near future, he will develop more miniature models with cultural characteristics, not only in Ho Chi Minh City or in the West, but also in different regions.
Originated from love of homeland
The owner of the miniature model workshop said that to create a miniature model, Mr. Duc has to go through many stages, taking 1-2 months to complete. First, the 8X guy will come up with an idea, theme, then find materials, real images to sketch in 3D. After that, Mr. Duc will proceed to find suitable materials for the model.
Before packaging, the most difficult step is shaping the product. The person doing it must be extremely meticulous and patient, avoiding missing the smallest details such as cups, plates, flowers, etc.
Normally, wood, dried flowers, metal, etc. are considered the main materials used for miniature models. Depending on the difficulty and details of each model, the price will vary from 70,000 to 600,000 VND.
Even the smallest details, Mr. Duc meticulously depicts clearly (Photo: NVCC).
"This job requires the person doing it to be really patient and meticulous. Designing a model is easy. But to make it beautiful and easy to assemble, so that players don't get discouraged, is very difficult. If they give up playing, the model is considered a failure," Duc shared.
According to Duc, when he was a child, his father gave him a miniature villa model made of pine wood. Duc considered that birthday gift his favorite and always kept it carefully.
It was not until he grew up and experienced many different professions that Duc realized he had to pursue his own passion to be able to be different.
In 2014, the 8X guy started to learn about miniature models. In Vietnam, at that time, this model was not popular and almost no one did it, so there were no books or schools to train about this profession.
"I learned on the Internet, looked at foreign models to see how they did it, and then gradually studied. At first, there were many difficulties, because I had no expertise, no place to train, so I had to learn mainly by myself. There were many failures, from proportions, colors, materials, ... everything was limited and the implementation was still not accurate," said Mr. Duc.
Tet holiday scene inside a traditional house (Photo: NVCC).
Starting out with only a great passion, the "father" of the miniature Saigon model did not receive support from his family from the beginning. Mr. Duc said that his family and friends thought that this model was only for girls to play with and even called him a "crazy guy".
"I don't care what other people say. I like to go against the crowd, as long as it's something I'm truly passionate about. I know that no one in Vietnam has done this model yet, so if I try to pursue it, I believe that if not today, then tomorrow I will succeed. Finally, now I have the answer to everyone's question "when will this be successful?"," the 8X guy said with a smile.
Thinking back to the first day of starting his business, Mr. Duc still feels emotional when he dared to hold 5 million VND of his last month's salary, after deciding to quit his job to start a business. He also sold his motorbike to "feed" his dream of bringing his products to "cover" the whole country.
The young man spent day and night researching and designing models that were detailed but easy to assemble for users. So he tried to assemble them himself, throwing away one model after another until his hands were rough and sore and he finally succeeded.
Not long after, his products became known to many people. In 5 years, from a small bookstore to a private store, the young man threw himself into his work without caring about profit. Up to now, Duc has created dozens of different miniature models, mass-producing up to thousands of them from 65 distribution systems across the country. New products on the themes of the West, Hoi An, etc. are all "sold out".
Up to now, Mr. Duc has received many titles and awards such as: Setting the record for "The person who created the most miniature models of Saigon stores and grocery stores"; Top 100 Sao Vang Dat Viet brands,...
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