44 km from Hanoi, Duong Lam ancient village is the ideal choice for tourists looking for a peaceful countryside away from the hustle and bustle of the city. This place still preserves many houses with ancient architecture with brick roads, laterite walls and the culture of the Northern countryside. In particular, this is also the hometown of Ngo Quyen and Phung Hung, so it is called "the land of two kings".
Nowadays, in addition to visiting Duong Lam ancient village to learn about historical values, visitors can also participate in creative art activities and workshops to experience the traditional culture of the Doai region. Coming to the ancient village, you will encounter images of impressive and colorful works made on bricks, tiles or wooden doors created based on Duong Lam culture and Doai culture.
Doai Creative is a cultural and artistic creative space founded by architect Khuat Van Thang.
Doai Creative is located at 7 Lang Co Street, Duong Lam Commune, Son Tay Town, Hanoi. The model is built on the idea of creating a creative space for tourists, especially children and international tourists to experience the traditional crafts and cultural values of Son Tay and the direction of other craft villages in the city.
Mr. Khuat Van Thang - founder of Doai Creative shared: “I was born in the capital city of Hanoi, but fate helped me find the land of Duong Lam and fall in love with the values here. To me, Duong Lam has a strong Vietnamese tradition, it is the intersection and fusion of both tangible and intangible cultural values. My artistic nature and intense love for culture, as well as the way I feel about a peaceful and familiar Duong Lam, made me settle right here. The more I love this land, the more I appreciate the precious cultural and artistic values that are gradually fading away. That is also when Doai Creative was born with the mission of reviving and developing the cultural values in Duong Lam, through the language of creative art”.
The model is built on the idea of creating a creative space for tourists, especially children and international tourists, to experience the crafts and traditional cultural values of Son Tay and the direction of other craft villages in the city.
As soon as you arrive at Duong Lam, you will have the opportunity to find a cultural and artistic space in the ancient seven-room house on the village road. This is the crystallization of materials familiar to the Northern countryside such as wood, earthen walls, tiled roofs, etc. This creates a space that brings a sense of familiarity and closeness, but at the same time still maintains the aesthetic elements and sophistication in architecture.
The house was renovated by Mr. Khuat Van Thang to face the street and the yard, but the back of the house was designed with a series of windows, with panels like a panel door. This design makes the house an open space in both directions, the part facing the street and the part facing the yard. The old house was re-roofed with tiles, and some functions were designed for cultural activities.
As soon as arriving at Duong Lam, visitors will have the opportunity to find a cultural and artistic space in an ancient seven-room house on the village street.
Doai Creative space both retains ancient features and creates a cozy, close feeling.
The architect exploited the old materials that could still be used, used friendly and familiar materials of Duong Lam and arranged and reorganized them to function properly. The old plastered brick wall was re-built with soil mixed with straw according to the traditional method of rural houses in the Northern Delta. The use of additives helps the mud wall limit the shortcomings of old wall houses. That makes the Doai Creative space both retain its ancient features and create a cozy and close feeling.
Doai Creative is an artistic creative space suitable for tourists who want to experience traditional craft villages and ancient villages in Vietnam. Visiting ancient villages, landscapes, spaces, and cultures will inspire tourists with art. Doai Creative also provides an environment to express creativity, especially for children, art students, and international tourists.
Doai Creative is an artistic creative space suitable for tourists who want to experience Vietnamese craft villages and ancient villages.
Coming to Doai Creative, visitors can experience many different art creation activities such as: tile painting, painting, sculpture, kite making, mid-autumn lantern making... However, the most unique thing is that this space encourages everyone to create based on friendly materials and always bears the mark of tradition.
For example, the ancient tiles in Duong Lam, instead of removing them and throwing them away, we can now use them as creative materials, and at the same time help people feel more clearly about the typical values in Duong Lam. Or with materials or products close to Vietnamese folk such as Do paper, kites, Mid-Autumn lanterns, wood carvings on woodblocks...
The most unique thing is that this space encourages people to create based on friendly materials and always bears a traditional mark.
Doai Creative is constantly searching for and developing more materials as well as diversifying activities, helping people to approach cultural and artistic values in an exciting and proactive way. In addition, to promote the creativity of visitors when coming here, Doai Creative's team always has assistants working in the art field, supporting you to create your own works.
It can be said that the first point that attracts tourists is the space containing many cultural and artistic features of Doai Creative. However, when coming and experiencing this place, each person has different feelings and preferences. Some people love the creativity of the paintings, others enjoy the peaceful, intimate space. Many people are engrossed in conversations with friends, but others are excited by the meticulousness of creating their own works. Doai in the eyes of tourists is a story about the creative and artistic place in Duong Lam, but also hundreds of different stories in each person's feelings.
When coming and experiencing this place, each person has different feelings and preferences.
In addition to daily experiences, Doai Creative also has many other art performances, workshops and creative development activities. Currently, Doai Creative is actively building meaningful programs to attract tourists and Duong Lam residents to participate.
Some of the programs that Doai Creative has organized include: August's Wooden Fish Exhibition Event - to preserve and develop the culture of Wooden Fish Bells in Duong Lam, June's Childhood Prism Event - to honor creative works through the eyes of children, May's Barrier-Free Creativity online event - calling on everyone to overcome barriers to create their own works... Doai Creative's events are mostly focused on small and medium scale, but mainly hope to embed in them the values of art and culture to be pushed further.
Wooden Fish Exhibition Event in August - to preserve and develop the Wooden Fish Bell culture in Duong Lam.
Sharing more with Travellive readers, Mr. Khuat Van Thang sent a message: “In the path of preserving and developing the cultural values of Duong Lam in particular and Vietnam in general, Doai Creative clearly recognizes the importance of cultural values imbued with national identity. Especially in modern society, where everything becomes 'flatter', when the public is importing too much culture from abroad and forgetting the unique voice of Vietnamese culture in the land of international integration. Only preserving and developing traditional Vietnamese culture is the strongest affirmation of the patriotism of today's youth."
