VNF - 5 teams competed in the final of “Craft & Design Innovation Competition 2018” on April 13 in Hanoi.

The competition is part of the project "Enhancing the value chain of Vietnamese handicrafts" co-organized by the Trade Promotion Agency (Ministry of Industry and Trade) , the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Korean partners including KOA, Megazone, GCS, KIDP.

The competition started in January 2018 and initially selected 5 teams to compete in the final round.

Products in the contest

Since 2017, the project "Enhancing the value chain of Vietnamese handicrafts" has been actively carried out with activities such as looking for competitive designers, developing online trading platform as well as building the Vietnam-Korea design cooperation center.

Speaking at the event, Ms.Nguyen Thu Huyen, representative of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, highly valued the important role of the handicraft industry in Vietnam’s export and economic development. She also dwelled on design innovation in product packaging, branding which help to increase product value but still underdeveloped in Vietnam.

Ms.Nguyen Thu Huyen, representative of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency

Therefore, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen believe that the project “Enhancing the value chain of Vietnamese handicrafts” and the “Craft & Design Innovation Competition 2018” will contribute to the development of Vietnamese handicrafts.

Ms. Young Young Ae, Deputy Representative of KOICA Vietnam, noted that young Vietnamese are now challenging themselves with new challenges, with new business sectors. Ms. Young Young Ae hopes that the contest will become a prerequisite for small and medium enterprises in the field of handicrafts to contribute to the development of this industry in Vietnam.

After the presentation of 5 teams, the organizers selected the winning team as KILOMET109, a garment brand specializing in natural materials and traditional production methods of Vietnam.

Woodecor, a brand specializing in wood handicraft got the second place. LC HOME - the traditional pottery of Bat Trang village, Sonmaiviet - the brand that designs a wide range of products using traditional lacquer and Anywhere Design – the brand that is testing a variety of materials all got the third place.

General Director of KOA Dongju Brandon Yu, , said that after the competition ends, the organizers will continue to support young designers who have business ideas but lack the resources to realize their ideas in 2 years. In the immediate future, the participating teams will be supported to sell and export well-designed Vietnamese products to foreign countries, especially the Korean market; promote products on e-commerce such as site suatree.com; display products at the Vietnam - Korea Design Center. Thereby, creating opportunities for businesses to meet and find partners at home and abroad.

General Director of KOA Dongju Brandon Yu

VNF