Mekong Quilts: quilt probably made using recycled decorative fabric.
Vietnam is on the up economically. Reforms – political as well as economic -in the mid 1980s have raised it from being one of the poorest countries in the world to one where those on lower and middle incomes predominate. Vietnam has moved successfully from being a highly centralised planned economy to a socialist-orientated market economy but most businesses are small or medium sized and mass production is rare. This means that there are still many areas in which the making of hand made goods can provide a helpful, though not large, income – especially in remote areas where seasonal agriculture predominates.
Mekong Quilts: patchwork quilt probably made from rescued decorative pieces
How long this can continue as Vietnam develops further remains to be seen. Anyone who has ever tried to make patchwork quilts for a living in the UK will know exactly what I mean. In all advanced countries only a handful of starry names can earn an income from hand made textiles like patchwork and embroidery.
Mekong Quilts: handmade appliquéd quilt
But that’s no denigration to the achievement and the spirit behind non profit organisations like Mekong Quilts which was set up in 2001 by a dentist from Ho Chi Mink City (Saigon) who joined forces with an NGO, Mekong Plus to create employment for underprivileged women living in more inaccessible parts of Vietnam and Cambodia – including those living in the Mekong Delta, a vast area in the very south of the country where the mighty river meets the sea like the veins on a fanned out palm leaf.
Mekong Quilts: Water buffalo cushion cover (hand appliquéd and quilted)
Mekong Quilts: Water buffalo cushion cover (hand appliquéd and quilted)
Mekong Quilts: Gecko toy (hand pieced)
The programme began with just 35 women and the first of their handcrafted items were sold in Tupperware style parties in the homes of supporters. There are now more than 340 woman employed, with shops in Ho Chi Minh City (2), Hanoi (2), one in Hoi An, Cambodia (2) and one in Thailand. An average worker may earn up to $100 a month – which Mekong Quilts Director says this usually amounts to a doubling of their previous income. Additionally any profit is ploughed back into supporting village infrastructure projects, scholarships and health and hygiene.
Mekong Quilts: Patchwork hammock and bamboo frame (hand appliquéd and quilted)
Mekong Creations was set up in 2010 to add a new range of products all of whose materials are locally sourced – water hyacinth baskets, papier maché bowls and a range of stunning bamboo bikes which I’m ashamed to say I took too little notice of when I visited a couple of their shops. (The Vietnamese, not to mention daughter No 2, are used to leaving their bikes all over the place – including in shops if the shop keeper approves – unlocked too.) I remember looking a bit askance at a taped up bamboo number resting against a quilt, not realising until later that it was for sale.
Mekong Quilts: top floor of one of the Hanoi shops
But the bikes are a really interesting product. Under strain bamboo flexes rather than breaks – a point proved to doubters by the director who unsuccessfully attempted to destroy a bike but who found even bashing it with a hammer had little effect. (See short You Tube video here.) It bent but did not break. I shouldn’t have been surprised, bamboo scaffolding looks a bit rickety to Western eyes but is the norm here (a nightmare to our Health and Safety officials who would probably have multiple heart attacks walking though Vietnamese streets, where vats of boiling water for cooking street food span the entire width narrow pavements, while above swing multiple electricity cables, looping across streets and shop fronts like the spewings from some giant’s overturned knitting basket, and let’s not even think about the perilous angled curb stones and the cobblediest of cobbled roads….) Soft westerners that we are, we survived.
Mekong Quilts: strings of stars
Mekong Quilts: close up of strings of stars
I’ve made Mekong Quilts and Mekong Creations sound very worthy but the truth is their reputation should rest upon their products and these can’t be faulted. Both design and workmanship is brilliant. Daughter No 2 is already the proud owner of several quilts, a patchwork hammock and various cushion covers while daughter No 1 also came away with a few cushion covers, having cast a wistful eye at at least one quilt. I bought more Christmas decorations – some that come folded up but open out and are secured by a (hidden) magnet as well as little collapsable stars. I meant to buy many stars and had almost done so at the Mekong Quilt shop in Hoi An where they had plenty but I waited until Hanoi. Wouldn’t you know it, the Hanoi shop only had 3? These collapsable baubles are brilliant Christmas tree decorations when you have lots of toddlers around as – like the bikes – they are almost unbreakable.
Mekong Quilts: collapsable Christmas baubles handmade from fabric covered cardboard and fastened with magnets
If you are want to know more about Mekong Quilts click here to read an interview with Bernard Kervyn, its director or here to look at the website, where you can see quilts of a brighter hue than shown above.
