Born and raised in Dong Cuu Village, Dung Tien Commune in Hanoi's Thuong Tin District, 25-year-old Ta Thi Tu Anh is one of the village's talented young artisans, creating exquisite embroidered costumes. She now strives to balance preserving traditional embroidery techniques and introducing innovative designs into her products.

Fall in love with embroidery

Young Hanoi artisan Ta Thi Tu Anh and her embroidered works. Photo: The Hanoi Times

About 25 kilometers from downtown Hanoi, Thuong Tin District is considered the cradle of traditional Vietnamese hand embroidery, specializing in costumes for the royal court during the feudal era.

Today, this craft village focuses on the production of ceremonial tunics and headscarves of various designs used by priests and priestesses when performing Dao Mau rituals or worshipping Mother Goddesses.

Growing up in a family with a long tradition of embroidery, Tu Anh's childhood was filled with images of embroidery frames, shimmering threads, and vibrant motifs on ceremonial garments. This upbringing has given her a deep understanding that every detail in a product reflects the craftsmanship and dedication of the artisan.

Like many young people, Tu Anh was eager to explore new things and had originally planned to pursue a career in tourism after graduating from university. But the threads of Dong Cuu village were like those of fate, drawing the dynamic tour guide back to the embroidery craft she had long loved.

"After being exposed to different traditional cultures, I realized that the embroidered items in my own home and village were also very rich in national cultural identity. From then on, I felt that I had to take responsibility for the craft that my ancestors had diligently maintained for so many years," said Tu Anh.

The ceremonial tunics and headscarves are available for sale at Tu Anh's shop in Dong Cuu Village, Thuong Tin District, Hanoi.

The road to preserving the craft is not a smooth one, especially for a young person like Tu Anh. She faces the challenge of finding a balance between inheriting the traditional embroidery techniques and motifs of her predecessors and the new creations she wants to bring to the products.

"A bad combination of tradition and modernity would easily cause negative reactions. Unconventional items sometimes fail to attract customers. How to create fresh designs without losing their soul is what makes me do a lot of research," said Tu Anh.

Keeping the flame of embroidery alive on social networks

As a true member of Generation Z, Tu Anh has realized that to truly develop embroidery, it is not enough to preserve traditional techniques. It is also crucial to promote the products in larger markets.

Using her social networking skills, she has built her personal brand on platforms such as Facebook and TikTok. Her creative images and videos describing the process of making her ceremonial items have received a large number of reactions and comments.

The elaborate dragon embroidered item is made by Tu Anh.

"When the products were first advertised on the platforms, many people did not know them. After seeing the quality of the scarves and shirts, customers from all over the country started expressing interest in buying them, and then they kept recommending the items to others," Tu Anh recalled.

As a result, their products are no longer limited to the local market, but thanks to the power of digital media, have reached many provinces and cities across the country - and even international customers.

An extraordinary costume used by priests and priestesses when performing Dao Mau rituals, or the worship of Mother Goddesses in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of artisan Tu Anh

To become a source of inspiration for the whole younger generation, Tu Anh said it should come from two directions, including young people's sense of responsibility to appreciate, protect and make use of the values of their local heritage; and the artisans' open-minded ways of thinking and following their younger successors. Combining tradition and modernity is the way to open up new directions for traditional craft villages to thrive in the long term.