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| Trương Thị Huyền is confident that her handcrafted Macrame furniture items will be trusted and used by customers |
Huyen shared that Macrame art originated from Arab countries and has been introduced into Vietnam for about 7 years. This handmade craft is made entirely of natural cotton material, using simple knots to create decorative patterns for decoration products for home in daily life.
“Living well” with Macrame
At the weekend, we visited Huyen's workshop at 23 Ha Con Trong Street, Phu Thuong Ward (Hue City), and were truly amazed by the place where Huyen started up her business.
Within a space of just over 100m2, in addition to the 6 regular employees who accompany Huyen at her “second home,” the products such as chairs, hammocks, bags, watches, curtains... even a newly created bikini set by Huyen, were all very eye-catching.
Theses handmade items, using eco-friendly Macrame art, impressed us from the very first visit. It was even more touching when we learned that Huyen was born in Vinh City (Nghe An), but decided to “stick to” the land of Hue to start her Macrame business.
With her passion, Huyen has successfully started her business using this art form. It was truly precious as she has created many jobs and provided poor women with stable lives through free training of the Macrame art.
Using basic knotting techniques, the craftswoman can create cute and lovely products with her own style. Compared to products made from wool, these cords are thicker, with a variety of colors and patterns.
Especially, Macrame products are completely made by hand, making them very popular among customers in European and Arab countries. However, in Vietnam, and particularly Hue, this is still an art form that not many people know about.
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| Macrame products are completely made by hand, making them very popular among customers in European and Arab countries |
Huyen stated that her initial purpose for learning Macrame was to create products for her family. However, the beauty of artistic knots inspired her to make more, especially items for the interior decoration industry. Whenever Huyen has free time, she would experiment and create new products, hoping to share her works with more people.
In 2021, during the intense COVID-19 outbreak, Huyen lost her job at the Mondial Hotel in Hue, where she had worked for over 10 years. Fortunately, during that time, Huyen studied and came up with the ideas for Macrame, and consequently, decided to establish a business producing Macrame products called HTM Macrame Factory Trade Production LTD.
“Calling it a business sounds too grand, but without it, I wouldn’t be able to sign purchase contracts for Macrame interior decoration products with foreign partners. Thus, I took a chance and started producing slowly while promoting the brand name. When I first started up with Macrame, I borrowed money from family and friends, and even then, I only had 50 million VND.”
Being a University of Economics - Hue University graduate sparked Huyen’s interest in business. Fortunately, after six months of establishing her business, she earned a total revenue of around 800 million VND, with a profit of 35% after all expenses were deducted.
Bringing Hue brand to the world
In order to get regular export orders to foreign countries every month, as well as continue to produce on a large scale, Huyen used to have a difficult period from creating design ideas for Macrame products to promoting her product brand name to customers.
In August 2022, at the “Talented Businesswomen” competition organized by the Women's Union of Thua Thien Hue province, Huyen brought her Macrame products and introduced her project “Handmade Macrame Weaving Art”. Her project completely convinced the judges and won second prize.
Perhaps Huyen's success came from the beauty and quality of products made from the Macrame art. The materials were locally produced and eco-friendly. The trendy designs are diverse; these bring a unique character and freshness to the space. Huyen's decorative products in beautiful spaces such as restaurants, cafes, homestays, hotels, resorts, and villas left a strong impression on art enthusiasts.
However, transforming simple knots in Macrame art into decorative patterns or interior products is not an easy task. Craftsmen have to spend a lot of time patiently learning the craft. For talented girls with the ability to appreciate art, it would take 3 to 4 days to learn simple knots, and almost 2 months after training to create simple decorative curtains.
Currently, Huyen's team has up to 20 craftsmen, mostly women in difficult circumstances. Huyen also creates opportunities for them to work on products while still have time to take care of household chores. On average, each employee at Huyen's workshop earns from 4 to 6 million VND per month.
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| Huyen has created many jobs and provided poor women with stable lives through free training of the Macrame art |
Sharing her expectations for Macrame products, Huyen said that the art of Macrame in Vietnam was still in its early stages of development and was relatively unfamiliar to many people. Currently, the Macrame community in Vietnam has very few members, of which only about 10 businesses have signed contracts with foreign partners to export the products abroad.
Huyen's hope is to introduce Macrame to the people of Hue, as well as to reach a wider range of customers, expand her business in both domestic and international scopes.
Huyen also had a roadmap to bring her products to domestic e-commerce platforms in the near future, and even to test her abilities on international e-commerce scene such as Amazon and Etsy. Orders exported to international markets such as the US, Europe, Thailand, Indonesia, and Brunei have received quite positive feedback from customers.
Many customers have returned to collaborate on even larger orders. For example, in the last month of 2022, Huyen's workshop produced and exported 600 decorative curtains to the US and Europe.
“Normally, our facility produces 300 to 500 interior decor products per month, such as curtains, mirror lamps, and handbags. I am willing to share my experience and provide free vocational training to help poor women find stable employment and income. I hope that in 2023, our business can export a container of products to European and American markets,” Huyen is determined to strive for this goal.