American Craft – August 01, 2019

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ANCIENT TOWN
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Ancient Town
Visit Reaching Out Arts &
Crafts, which employs people
with disabilities, and watch
artisans tapping brass rims onto
ceramic cups and embroidering
napkins. In the showroom, you
can browse beautifully designed
ceramic cups, teapots, and place
settings, including a bowl with
a small hole on the side for
resting chopsticks across the
top. The social enterprise
offers workshops on craft
making and meditating over
tea. It also runs the nearby
Reaching Out Teahouse.
Kim Bong
Carpentry Village
Located about two miles south
of Ancient Town over the
bridge on Cam Kim Island,
the village is home to crafts-
people renowned for their
boats, furniture, and intricate
carvings for pagodas in Hoi An
and the former imperial city
of Hue. Huynh Suong, a 14th-
generation woodworker, helps
run the family’s Huynh Ri car-
pentry workshop, where you can
marvel at the bamboo bird cages
he has built into the twisting
roots of teak and mahogany trees.
If he’s not busy, Suong will
give you a ride on his motorbike
to see Do Sung, one the few
artisans still making Hoi An’s
bamboo basket boats. The
workshop is at his house;
there is no address, but find
Cafe 78 - Co Lieu on Google
maps, and it’s just a few houses
east. You can also see the boats
in action on the picturesque
Hidden Beach several miles
northeast on the seaside, where
fishermen paddle out to sea just
before sunset.
Huynh Ri carpentry workshop
[email protected]
Hoi An Impression
Theme Park
To experience the city via a
musical extravaganza, hike over
a footbridge to Hoi An Impres-
sion Theme Park in the middle
of the river, with a 3,300-seat
amphitheater overlooking a
replica of the Ancient Town
waterfront. A cast of about 500,
including scores in ao dai and
illuminated conical hats, tells
the story of the port’s evolution
each night.
Hoi An Impression Theme Park
hoianimpression.vn/en/
Hoi An has an astounding
600 tailor shops, and you can’t
go wrong having an outfit made
at Yaly Couture. You can also
watch workers make traditional
ao dai at the Yaly boutique.
Check out the town’s signa-
ture lanterns at Huynh Van Ba’s
lantern-making shop, and take a
class to make your own lantern.
You can also admire art photog-
raphy and traditional costumes
at the Precious Heritage Muse-
um in the French Quarter on the
eastern edge of Ancient Town.
Reaching Out Arts & Crafts
reachingoutvietnam.com
Yaly Couture
yalycouture.com
Huynh Van Ba Laterns
denlonghuynhvanba.com
Precious Heritage Museum
rehahnphotographer.com/
precious-heritage-museum
american craft aug/sept 19 69