The idea to make the flowers last forever in order to make souvenirs came to Kieu Cao Dung when he worked as a tour guide and saw foreign tourists' interest in gifts showing some part of Vietnamese culture. Dung decided to quit his job to start his own business of making gifts from flowers.
Dung used thousands of flowers to make his first work of art because he did not understand their biological properties. With the help of artist Nguyen Ba Muu, who is honored with the People's Artisan title, Dung finished “Dad and Mom”, his first piece of art, as a gift for his parents.
With his talent, Dung, who had never been trained in painting, created hundreds of pieces of art from flowers which have been preserved through various technical processes and thus can be kept for years.
Dung’s works of art vividly portray the beautiful natural scenery and people of Vietnam, among which are “One Pillar Pagoda”, “Hue. the Imperial City”, “The Northwest” and “A Flower Shoulder Pole”. Dung always uses bamboo or rattan in his flower artworks, which create their own unique Vietnamese identity.
“Making a piece of art from flowers must go through four stages”, Dung said. “First, select the flower with a level of freshness and a blossom suitable for the piece. Next treat the flower with safe chemicals and then dry it. It takes about ten days to finish these two stages. Finally, create the piece with the preserved flowers. It is crucial to figure out exactly how the art will look in order to choose the shapes and colors of the flowers accordingly,” Dung said.
Dung used thousands of flowers to make his first work of art because he did not understand their biological properties. With the help of artist Nguyen Ba Muu, who is honored with the People's Artisan title, Dung finished “Dad and Mom”, his first piece of art, as a gift for his parents.
Dung's working space where he creates pieces of art imbued with Vietnamese folk culture.
 With his passion and skill, Dung has made flowers last forever.  After being preliminarily processed, the flowers are treated with chemicals.  The flowers are then dyed with safe dyes.  After that, they are dried.  To make the flowers soft as originally, Dung uses a tool to flatten the petals.  Dung uses dried flowers to decorate paintings and works of calligraphy. Photo: Khanh Long  Dung shares his experience and skills with young people who have the same passion like him.  Dung introduces a piece of art to a foreigner at his souvenir shop. |
With his talent, Dung, who had never been trained in painting, created hundreds of pieces of art from flowers which have been preserved through various technical processes and thus can be kept for years.
Dung’s works of art vividly portray the beautiful natural scenery and people of Vietnam, among which are “One Pillar Pagoda”, “Hue. the Imperial City”, “The Northwest” and “A Flower Shoulder Pole”. Dung always uses bamboo or rattan in his flower artworks, which create their own unique Vietnamese identity.
“Making a piece of art from flowers must go through four stages”, Dung said. “First, select the flower with a level of freshness and a blossom suitable for the piece. Next treat the flower with safe chemicals and then dry it. It takes about ten days to finish these two stages. Finally, create the piece with the preserved flowers. It is crucial to figure out exactly how the art will look in order to choose the shapes and colors of the flowers accordingly,” Dung said.
Some of Dung's works of art "One Pillar Pagoda", one of Dung's most sophisticated works of art.       |
Story: Ngan Ha - Photos: Khanh Long
