The spirit of past in dó paper

I personally love watching Vietnamese classic films. Those motion pictures and rudimentary cinematic techniques absorbed me right the first time I saw a Vietnamese classic film.

My friends found it very strange when I always went for a black and white movie such as “Bao giờ cho đến tháng mười” ( When will the October come?) or “Chuyến xe bão táp” ( The stormy journey)… as entertainment every now and then when we have a movie night. I simply explain myself:” Watching them makes me feel like going back in time”. That is a vague feeling belonging to such a nostalgic soul, excitedly stepping in a time machine to come back to separate periods of the nation’s history, to enjoy observing people and the timbre of the old days… How they used to dress, how they expressed themselves… everything just emerging vividly and beautifully. I’ve imagined just classic films could be magically convincing.

The very first time I touched a sketchbook made from dó paper, there was a familiar picture on the cover, capturing the streets of Hanoi during ‘rush hour’ time back in the 90’s - which is already myself and my friend’s favorite photo, since we both like that kind of documentary photo . The nostalgic feeling of watching an old movie came back to me all of a sudden. Just stroking my hand along the cover of that lovely sketchbook and seeing the photo printed on the cover, I found myself once again being a teenage girl overwhelmed by the classic movie. I couldn’t help myself but thinking I must be lost in the middle of time.

I can easily recall what was captured on the cover, with the “legendary” electric tram you won’t be able to find anywhere in Hanoi nowadays. In the midst of the street in rush hour, Hanoians seemed not in a rush at all – on the contrary, they were passing each other almost unconsciously on their bicycles. The colors of their clothes stood out sparklingly on the paper, and behind them there were ancient trees on the corners patiently witnessing lives going on around them … Even though the photo wasn’t new to me, but that was definitely the only time I felt it that real and touchable that I could hear the electric tram’s tinkling sound right next to my ears. I could see in front of me people are dazed with the rhyme of life which is unbelievably peaceful in the cold day of early winter. Nothing likes the modern rhyme nowadays.

I had learnt that the very unique texture of dó paper is the fundamental factor making the magic happens. Thanks to the lumps on the soft papers, colors and images of people seem like they are popping up and moving slowly in front of us.

If you feel that way when you’re holding a dó sketchbook in your hands, it will be not so hard to realize the spirit of past is slightly staying inside us and fosters our souls.

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