Van Lam embroidery village

Van Lam village in Dong Hai commune, Hoa Lu district, Ninh Binh province was formerly known as O Lam (Crow Forest). In addition to its rich cultural history, the village is also famous for its traditional embroidery. Located next to the famous Tam Coc-Bich Dong tourist area, the village has become a famous tourist destination.

Embroidery appeared in Van Lam village in the 13th century under the Tran dynasty. In front of the village gate, there is an ancient temple dedicated to the founder of local embroidery. Van Lam people worship the embroidery craft on the 15th day of the first lunar month. According to legend, Mrs. Tran Thi Dung, the wife of the great minister Tran Thu Do, returned to the village, along with other members of the Tran royal family, and taught the local people the craft of weaving and embroidery. The first local products were clothes decorated with bird patterns, couplets and royal robes. Since then, embroidery has become popular among the locals. Van Lam's embroidery products have found their way to other regions in Vietnam and abroad. The people of Van Lam set up a temple to worship the craft ancestors to express their deep gratitude to the founder of the profession and preserve the profession.

The communal house also worships Dinh Xuan Ngheh and Dinh Xuan Xoan, who brought the lace craft to the village in the early 20th century.

Van Lam women take advantage of embroidering their products at Tam Coc wharf while waiting for guests to sail. As a profession passed down through generations, most Van Lam people are engaged in embroidery. Men in the village are as proficient at embroidery as women. With thin, colorful threads, skillful hands of local artisans have created delicate and beautiful embroidery products like artistic masterpieces. For Van Lam villagers, embroidery is a detailed profession, so they cannot say how long it takes to make an embroidery picture because it depends on the type of painting they are doing. It takes more time to create more detailed and larger pictures. Craftsmanship requires artisans to master each stage.

The whole village of Van Lam has nearly 700 households doing embroidery. Each house in the village is a workshop where the artisans are family members. Embroiders learned their craft from their grandparents and parents from an early age. Day by day, they gradually mastered the skills. Decorative patterns on paintings are diverse and skilled craftsmen are constantly creating new patterns for their paintings.

Van Lam embroidery products are not only famous in Vietnam but also abroad. In recent years, these products have been exported to Japan, USA, Germany and France. Van Lam artisans are constantly creating and improving products to meet market demand. They created over 200 lace patterns and combined embroidery and lace to create stunning paintings. Because it is located very close to Tam Coc - Bich Dong tourist area, Van Lam embroidery village is visited by many tourists. In particular, foreign tourists are very interested to see how the artisans here make embroideries. Through these paintings, the embroiderer brings visitors the scenic spots and local embroidery. Decorative motifs depicting Vietnamese countryside scenes, charming Vietnamese girls, flowers on Van Lam embroidery products are the most impressive.