Cat Dang Bamboo Village
Cat Dang is a famous traditional lacquer ware village contributing numerous interior products for mausoleums and the Imperial Palace in Hue and Hanoi. Cat Dang is also a cradle of an illustrious craft in Vietnam: pressed bamboo wares.
Product decoration is an art of a superb implementation, a painting art for creating vignettes or various decorative colors. The main material for painting is polyurethane with some production units using natural paints such as Vietnamese lacquer or cashew nut as well. According to master craftsmen in the village, paint preparation and spraying are the most difficult stages. Secrets of the trade are maintained in these stages. Many apprentices from other regions come to Cat Dang but the results of their painting technique are not comparable with those of Cat Dang villagers. Notably, Cat Dang villagers have a secret treatment to preclude deterioration because of rain; their coats of paint will not fade while others must wait for the sun to re-paint. Many master craftsmen of Cat Dang village have opened vocational training in different regions, and they are famous throughout as the supreme talents of Cat Dang village.