Spent a rainy morning in the village of Phú Vinh, 20 km outside of Hanoi, interviewing rattan weavers. The artisan above is making a basket like those shown behind him to the left. He told me (thx, Mr Thanh) it takes him about three days to make one of these baskets.
The large needle in his mouth is used to thread the rattan through the frame as shown below. Although about 70% of the households in Phú Vinh make rattan baskets at some point during the year, the total number of weavers is decreasing as villagers take higher-paying factory jobs in Chuong My. [NOTE: I love the little wooden jig that he uses to steady the basket in his lap while he's working on it].
