Collection 0

Lụa và thêu tay · Vạn Phúc, Quất Động

Silk & hand embroidery

Silk loomed in Vạn Phúc and embroidered by hand in Quất Động, where a single panel can take a season of mornings.

Silk loomed in Vạn Phúc and embroidered by hand in Quất Động, where a single panel can take a season of mornings.

5 works · each one unique or in a small edition

Craft

5 works

Village

Small embroidered panel, kingfisher: A hand-embroidered silk panel of a kingfisher over shaded water, silk thread on hand-loomed silk, stretched on its frame by a window, in a Quất Động embroidery room, a wooden frame set in the window, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, soft morning light, by Lê Thị Hoa

Small embroidered panel, kingfisher

Lê Thị Hoa · Quất Động

$520

Unique work

Small embroidered panel, kingfisher: A hand-embroidered silk panel of a kingfisher over shaded water, silk thread on hand-loomed silk, stretched on its frame by a window, in a Quất Động embroidery room, a wooden frame set in the window, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, soft morning light, by Lê Thị Hoa

Small embroidered panel, kingfisher

Lê Thị Hoa
Quất Động · $520

Unique work

Silk length, chrysanthemum damask: A length of hand-loomed mulberry silk with a chrysanthemum damask figure, plant-dyed wine red, running off the wooden loom, in a Vạn Phúc weaving house, a wooden hand loom in window light, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, by Vạn Phúc workshop

Silk length, chrysanthemum damask

Vạn Phúc workshop · Vạn Phúc

$240
Silk length, chrysanthemum damask: A length of hand-loomed mulberry silk with a chrysanthemum damask figure, plant-dyed wine red, running off the wooden loom, in a Vạn Phúc weaving house, a wooden hand loom in window light, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, by Vạn Phúc workshop

Silk length, chrysanthemum damask

Vạn Phúc workshop
Vạn Phúc · $240

Cushion cover, embroidered cranes: A silk cushion cover hand-embroidered with two cranes in shaded thread on wine-red Vạn Phúc silk, still on the frame, in a Quất Động embroidery room, a wooden frame set in the window, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, soft morning light, by Lê Thị Hoa

Cushion cover, embroidered cranes

Lê Thị Hoa · Quất Động

$320
Cushion cover, embroidered cranes: A silk cushion cover hand-embroidered with two cranes in shaded thread on wine-red Vạn Phúc silk, still on the frame, in a Quất Động embroidery room, a wooden frame set in the window, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, soft morning light, by Lê Thị Hoa

Cushion cover, embroidered cranes

Lê Thị Hoa
Quất Động · $320

Scarf, hand-loomed silk: A hand-loomed mulberry-silk scarf, plant-dyed in deep wine red with a faint damask figure, draped over the beam of a wooden loom, in a Vạn Phúc weaving house, a wooden hand loom in window light, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, by Vạn Phúc workshop

Scarf, hand-loomed silk

Vạn Phúc workshop · Vạn Phúc

$140
Scarf, hand-loomed silk: A hand-loomed mulberry-silk scarf, plant-dyed in deep wine red with a faint damask figure, draped over the beam of a wooden loom, in a Vạn Phúc weaving house, a wooden hand loom in window light, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, by Vạn Phúc workshop

Scarf, hand-loomed silk

Vạn Phúc workshop
Vạn Phúc · $140

Lotus pond, hand-embroidered silk: A hand-embroidered silk panel of a lotus pond, shaded silk thread on hand-loomed Vạn Phúc silk, still stretched on its wooden frame, in a Quất Động embroidery room, a wooden frame set in the window, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, soft morning light, by Lê Thị Hoa

Lotus pond, hand-embroidered silk

Lê Thị Hoa · Quất Động

$860

Unique work

Lotus pond, hand-embroidered silk: A hand-embroidered silk panel of a lotus pond, shaded silk thread on hand-loomed Vạn Phúc silk, still stretched on its wooden frame, in a Quất Động embroidery room, a wooden frame set in the window, mulberry silk, deep wine red and ochre, soft morning light, by Lê Thị Hoa

Lotus pond, hand-embroidered silk

Lê Thị Hoa
Quất Động · $860

Unique work

Looking for something that is not here — a size, a colour, a pair? Most of our artisans take commissions, and we will carry the conversation for you.

Commission a work

About the craft

A thousand years at the loom, a season at the frame

Where it is made

Vạn PhúcHà Đông, Hà Nội12 kmQuất ĐộngThường Tín, Hà Nội25 km

Vạn Phúc has loomed the silk of Hà Đông since the eleventh century; Quất Động, a few lanes from the lacquer workshops of Hạ Thái, taught the north to embroider in the seventeenth. The two villages still work together: hand-loomed silk from the one, a metre a day on a wooden loom, becomes the ground for the other's needle.

The embroidery we carry is done before ten in the morning, when the light is flat and the colours read truly, with thread split into six and shading laid stitch by stitch rather than dyed. A panel the size of a window is a season of mornings. The scarves and lengths are dyed in small vats, so no two are quite the same.

Panels are sent rolled on an acid-free tube, unframed; scarves folded in tissue. Prices include insured shipping and duties.

The makers

Portrait of Lê Thị Hoa, embroiderer in her forties, seated at an embroidery frame by a window in Quất Động, morning light on silk thread, fifth generation of the family trade

Lê Thị Hoa

Embroiderer

Portrait of the Vạn Phúc family workshop: two weavers at a wooden hand loom in window light, wine-red silk on the beam, family workshop of the family trade

Vạn Phúc workshop

Hand-loom weavers

Caring for silk & embroidery

Frame embroidery behind UV glass, away from radiators. Scarves: hand-wash cold with a drop of mild soap, roll in a towel, dry flat in shade. Never wring. Store folded in tissue, not hanging.

Full care notes