Tương Bình Hiệp

Tương Bình Hiệp lies on the edge of Thủ Dầu Một, in country that was rubber and orchard long before it was industrial estate. Lacquerers came here from the north some three centuries ago, bringing the resin, the sanding stones and the patience the work demands. Over generations the palette warmed. Reds grew deeper, gold leaf more generous, and the shell of the river and the sea, cut into petals, birds and bamboo leaves, became the mark of southern work.

The village still lacquers, though the trade has changed around it. Much of what leaves Bình Dương now is made quickly for export, with synthetic coatings that dry in hours. A smaller number of workshops keep to natural lacquer, building a panel or a box in many thin coats over weeks, each one dried in a damp room and rubbed back before the next. Walk past the open fronts and you will see boards stacked to cure, and the grey slurry of the sanding trough on the floor.

Good work shows itself in the hand and in the light. A natural lacquer surface is deep rather than shiny; you seem to look into it, not at it. Shell inlay should sit perfectly flush, with no ridge under the finger, and its edges should be cleanly cut. Turn a piece over: the back of a serious panel is lacquered too, so that the board does not warp. Colours laid under the final coats and polished up through them have a softness that paint on top never has.