Craft village · Kim hoàn thủ công · Hand-wrought jewellery

Định Công

Làng kim hoàn Định Công — the goldsmiths' village inside the city

Định Công is no longer outside Hà Nội; the city has grown around it. But in a few houses off the main road, silver is still drawn into thread finer than a hair and twisted into filigree, the way it has been since, by the village's own account, the sixth century.

Wide view of a silversmith's bench in Định Công, coils of fine silver wire, a small torch flame, window light on worn wood, silver & gold filigree village, Red River Delta, Vietnam

“A thread of silver should be as fine as a hair and as patient as one.”

Định Công is no longer outside Hà Nội; the city has grown around it. But in a few houses off the main road, silver is still drawn into thread finer than a hair and twisted into filigree, the way it has been since, by the village's own account, the sixth century.

Craft: Silver & gold filigreeKim hoàn
Where: Hoàng Mai, Hà Nội8 km from Hà Nội
Practised since: c. 6th centuryThe oldest craft on this list
Material: Silver & goldDrawn into thread
On LangSoul: 1 artisan5 works

01 — The story

Fifteen centuries of thread

The village calls three brothers its founders. The craft they left is the same one: wire, patience, and a very small flame.

Archive black-and-white photograph from the mid-twentieth century, faded and grainy: the jeweller's bench in Định Công, silver & gold filigree, villagers in simple work clothes, old brick and timber

The village calls three brothers its founders. The craft they left is the same one: wire, patience, and a very small flame.

Định Công was the goldsmiths’ village of the capital for most of the city’s history; its masters made for the court and taught the other jewellers’ quarters of the Old Quarter. Filigree — đậu bạc, “silver beans”, for the tiny granules that finish the work — was its signature.

The trade nearly disappeared in the late twentieth century. It survives in a handful of families who teach it now to apprentices from across the city, and whose work has moved from altar ornaments to forms for the wrist and the ear.

Silver wire drawn through a steel plate, growing finer, on a worn bench, at a Định Công silversmith's bench, worn wood, fine silver wire and a small torch flame, warm grey and silver tones

A small blue torch flame soldering silver filigree held in tweezers, at a Định Công silversmith's bench, worn wood, fine silver wire and a small torch flame, warm grey and silver tones

02 — The technique

What makes Định Công filigree

Everything is done with wire, by hand, at a scale the eye can barely follow.

I

Drawn wire

Silver is pulled through a plate of ever-smaller holes until it is a thread.

II

Twisted and flattened

Two threads are twisted together and rolled flat, giving filigree its rope-like edge.

III

Built, not cast

The pattern is assembled thread by thread inside a frame, then soldered with a mouth-blown flame.

IV

Finished with beans

Tiny granules — the “silver beans” — are set at the joins; they are the village's signature.

Words you will meet

Kim hoàn

Goldsmithing, jewellery.

Đậu bạc

“Silver beans”: granulation, and by extension the village's filigree.

Kéo sợi

Drawing wire.

04 — Works from Định Công

Five works from the village

All hand-wrought jewellery works

Filigree cuff, silver

Đinh Văn Hùng

$390

Filigree drop earrings

Đinh Văn Hùng

$260

Filigree pendant, lotus

Đinh Văn Hùng

$220

Filigree ring, silver

Đinh Văn Hùng

$170

All hand-wrought jewellery works

Map · Hà Nội → Định Công

05 — Visiting

Come and watch a thread being drawn

Định Công is inside the city, so a visit is an afternoon rather than a day: two workshops, tea, and the chance to commission a piece in person. Collectors who have acquired a work from the village visit as our guests.

From Hà Nội: About 20 minutes by car
Best season: All year
Group size: Four people at most

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