Artisan · Đồ đồng trang trí · Đại Bái village

Nguyễn
Văn Sơn

Bronze caster · Seventh generation · At the foundry since 1988

“The mould is broken to free the work. Every bell is cast once.”

His mark, chased into the base of every piece after the patina has set.

Craft: Bronze castingBurners, bells, vessels
Workshop: Đại BáiThe family foundry
Learned from: His fatherand the drum patterns
Signature: The drum motifchased after casting
On LangSoul: 5 worksTakes commissions

01 — The maker

Seven generations at the pour

Sơn's family has poured bronze in Đại Bái for as long as the village has records. The foundry is the same yard; the sand is dug from the same field.

Molten bronze poured from a crucible into a sand mould before dawn, orange glow on the casters, in the Đại Bái foundry, sand moulds and charcoal glow, dark bronze with a green-brown patina, smoke and low light

Hands breaking a sand mould away from a still-warm bronze casting, in the Đại Bái foundry, sand moulds and charcoal glow, dark bronze with a green-brown patina, smoke and low light

Sơn's family has poured bronze in Đại Bái for as long as the village has records. The foundry is the same yard; the sand is dug from the same field.

He learned the trade as every boy in the lane did, carrying sand and breaking moulds, and took over the foundry from his father in the 1990s when the temple orders returned. The large bells still go to temples. The burners and vessels, chased with the drum patterns of the Đông Sơn bronzes, now go further.

He pours before dawn, when the air is cool and the metal behaves, and chases the surface by hand afterwards — weeks of small chisels for a morning of fire. The patina is the village’s own mixture, and he asks that it be left alone.

A small hammer and chisel chasing a drum pattern into bronze, bright marks in dark metal, in the Đại Bái foundry, sand moulds and charcoal glow, dark bronze with a green-brown patina, smoke and low light

Macro of green-brown village patina on cast bronze, in the Đại Bái foundry, sand moulds and charcoal glow, dark bronze with a green-brown patina, smoke and low light

02 — The works

Five works from the bench

All decorative bronze works

Incense burner, cast bronze

Burner · Edition of 8

$540

Temple bell, cast bronze

Bell · Unique

$1,900

Lotus-bud candle holders, pair

Candle holders · Edition of 10

$380

Small drum, cast bronze

Drum · Unique

$1,250

Water dropper, bronze

Water dropper · Edition of 12

$210

All decorative bronze works

03 — Commission

Sơn takes commissions between temple orders

A burner to a size, a bell for a garden, a vessel with a pattern from the drums. Tell us what you have in mind and we will carry the conversation to the foundry. Two to four months from mould to crate.

Start a commission

A letter from Đại Bái

“The mould is dry. We pour on Tuesday before the sun. I will send a photograph of the metal going in.”

— to a collector, February 2026.

Start a commission

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