Wandering through Hanoi's Old Quarter, stopping at 62 Hang Quat, you will see the image of the romantic and worldly man Do Thanh Ha sitting diligently and meticulously carving each seal. In the store area of ​​more than 10 square meters, Do Thanh Ha has witnessed many stories associated with the craft of carving wooden seals over the past 27 years. Although it seems to have faded over time, the craft of carving seals still creates new features and becomes a valuable traditional handmade gift for many generations and international friends.

No one knows when the profession of seal carving appeared, but its uses have been present for a long time. Seals were originally created to authenticate documents or seal important documents and letters... Nowadays, to adapt to the development, seals have changed in design and size to suit the hobby of many people playing with handmade seals.

To Tich Street was formerly famous for its handmade stamp making, but as society becomes more modern, people's tastes change, causing this street to gradually be replaced by other businesses. Nowadays, to find a shop making handmade stamps in Hanoi, you can only go to the Old Quarter, especially Hang Quat.

Stopping at the store at 62 Hang Quat, it is not difficult to see the image of a man with a rugged appearance diligently, painstakingly, meticulously carving each hand-made seal with the smallest, most difficult details at the table placed in front of the door, surrounded by a series of wooden molds and seals with different drawings and sizes.

Mr. Do Thanh Ha (1974) - the shop owner and a native of Hanoi, has been working in the family seal carving profession for more than 27 years. He said: “Seal carving is a traditional profession passed down from my father, starting in 1996 and continuing until now. In the past, I often came up with ideas for each image, but later on, customers' preferences have diversified, ordering handmade wooden seals with different meanings and purposes, many even order portraits. Therefore, wooden seals have gradually had to be innovated. There are countless carvers, but the carving lines and techniques are not the same. Just looking at the carver's knife, you can tell how skilled they are.”

To create a seal, the craftsman must go through many different stages, especially sketching or carving. This craft requires perseverance, meticulousness and delicate creativity.

Engraving is also the most difficult step and requires the most care with the participation of a knife, chisel, file... To create a complete seal, the craftsman must have a seal made of wood specialized in ink cage with the characteristics of lightness, easy to engrave and good ink absorption. Then, depending on the customer's request, the craftsman will sketch the shape on the seal and use a knife to carve each line, chisel the difficult details. Engraving a seal requires the craftsman to be skillful in every detail. Because when carving a seal, the craftsman must carve the image in reverse of the original, then when pressed on paper, it will have the desired shape.

“I carve countless simple shapes every day, even many seals only take 20 minutes to complete. When you have been in the profession for a long time, everything, no matter how demanding, is easy to complete, but in my opinion, the most difficult is still carving portraits. People only give you a photo to sketch and carve based on. Small sizes are difficult to carve, and large sizes take time,” said Mr. Do Thanh Ha.

As time goes by, the craft of hand-carving seals seems to have faded away over time, but today it still creates new features and becomes a traditional handmade gift. Amidst the changing pace of modern life, there are still people who love the craft and are attached to the ancient craft. They still preserve the traditional cultural values ​​of Hanoi's craft streets every day.

To keep up with the trend of society, to meet the maximum requirements of diverse customers, craftsmen must also change to bring to the market stamps of many sizes and designs. Although the stamps are diverse, anyone who is "savvy" can tell at a glance. There may be many stamp shops, but the quality and engraving techniques will not be the same. According to Mr. Ha, the work can be engraved by machine, but the toys must be engraved by hand.

“I used to have 5 shops that made seals, but after the Covid pandemic hit, I had to close them all and now only operate at this shop. At that time, there were quite a lot of foreign customers carving portraits, small seals too, so much so that I had to hire more workers from my hometown to keep up with the work. Foreigners really like handmade toys like this instead of machine carving, especially the Japanese. After Covid, the number of customers coming to make seals has decreased a lot, the demand for handmade toys has also decreased a lot,” said Mr. Do Thanh Ha.

In addition to the usual patterns, today's stamps are also souvenirs with diverse contents according to the preferences of domestic and foreign tourists, especially portrait engraving. Because it requires high skills and takes a long time to complete, the price will be more expensive. The stamps that Mr. Ha engraves have prices that vary depending on the difficulty of each customer, from 100,000 to 400,000 VND. Or there are larger and more difficult plates, the price will also depend on that, the price is raised.

Mr. Do Thanh Ha added that the most important thing is to maintain the passion for the profession in the face of the changes and developments of modern society. Handcrafted wood carving is a traditional craft that carries national identity. Each international tourist who comes and buys it as a souvenir is considered to have promoted Vietnamese culture to international friends.