Zó- the untold stories

The Idea of Zó Project came from a very individual story which is about a young soul happened to fall in love with the art of Vietnamese traditional calligraphy in the whole and especially calligraphy on dó paper. Two years since Zó Project’s establishment, we’ve been delighted to tell you many stories both named and unknown with our unending inspiration coming from those fleeting, thin paper. From one of the rare craftsman maintaining making dó paper with traditional processes within modern life to a young Vietnamese artist who presented his pieces on dó paper all around the world… these little stories themselves have their own significance, and all of them are somehow associated to traditional values.

Being members of Zó Project’s team, we still find it surprisingly interesting the way dó paper bring up to us such a good, meaningful story to tell. It was the beginning of this Autumn, Maya- a French girl came to Zó’s Office. We had been communicating back and forth via inbox messages on Facebook, informed that she was finishing her master in traditional paper around the world, that’s why she wanted to know more about Vietnamese traditional paper- dó paper, and Zó was the only project on the internet could give her some useful information in English. Maya tried to contact us via email, facebook… with the hope of touching real dó paper for the first time.

It turned out Maya’s story was much more interesting than we imagined. After looking around the office which is full of piles of every kinds of dó paper with the great excitement, she wasn’t hesitated to share her purpose to travel all the way to Vietnam. In a museum in the middle of Paris, France, there are two ancient lanterns believed originally from Vietnam in 1920s. Her project is to restore the first prototype of the two lanterns, required also the original paper which was their material. Maya believed Vietnam would definitely be the only place in the world where she could find the exact material which is not only unique but also can be in being for more than a hundred years. Dó paper was one of her conjectures, and she found Zó Project in a totally unexpected occasion.

It might be the most surprising day for us. We all had such a strong feeling that the two lanterns were make from dó paper originally since dó paper have been well known for its reputation in unique texture: the longer it takes, the more colorfast it will be. Dó papers were make from dó bark, after going through all of complicated traditional making processes by very skilled craftsmen, dó papers are dried up under natural condition. .. All that factors made dó paper become one of the most special kind of paper in the world.

Maya showed us the photos of the two lanterns to see how fresh and bright their color are, we were really moved. Almost a century is passing by, there have been uncountable changes and replacing, but there they are, the two delicate, ancient Vietnamese traditional toys have magically maintained their shape and quality. And as magically as that, there is a young French girl who is incredibly passionate on restoring them.

Maya was quite concerned when we couldn’t find any place or handicraft village remaining making animal- shape lantern. Instead, they prefer making colorful plastic lanterns because it’s much cheaper, thus much easier to sell. However, we still said to her: “Keep searching, you’ll never know what the next amazing thing you would find eventually”. We silently share the big belief in that idea.

For the matter, that is also the belief attached to Zó Project from it’s very beginning: dó paper and the value of tradition and culture will never be vanished, if we still love and treasure them.

Van Anh Nguyen

Hanoi, 9.10.2015

#blog #story #news #france #dópaper