(VNF) - The launch event of the book “Hoa van Dai Viet” (Patterns of Dai Viet) had been successfully held on Sunday (Jan. 8^th) at Hanoi old quarter cultural exchange center.

“Hoa van Dai Viet” is a community fundraising project which uses vector technology to draw all the ancient patterns of Vietnam. The project was conducted by the Dai Viet Co Phong group (Ancient Dai Viet group) and Comicola Joint Stock Company.

Project objectives are to create a rich resource for Vietnamese creators to produce the works with typical Vietnamese characteristics, against cultural invasion (through literature, film…) from countries in the region.

After 2 years of hardworking, the group has successfully redraw 250 ancient patterns of Vietnam using vector technology. The vector sets of patterns will be used for traditional costumes, architecture, painting, and illustration.

The group digitizes ancient patterns on ancient objects and documents and make them a public asset.

Using vector technology to draw the Vietnamese ancient patterns.

Painter Cu Minh Khoi, a member of the project, said that the limitation in understanding and identifying cultural resources has adversely impacted on investment in the cultural field and limited the efficiency of the revenues from the cultural market, meaning the promotion of the image of the country to the world failed to fulfill the nation’s potential.

More and more, consumers are interested in products using ancient patterns in their clothes, home decors and accessories like pillows, blankets, table cloths, furniture, handbags, and jewelries. When buying these products, the consumer is interested in the story behind the product: where does the product originate from, who are the producers, what is the meaning of the decorative patterns, etc. In that process, they would contribute to the preservation of traditional culture and national socio-economic development.

Aiming to raise VND 100 million (USD 4,400), the group began collecting and digitizing decorative patterns of the Nguyen dynasty after having raised VND 35 million (USD 1,540) and patterns of the Le dynasty after they had VND 50 million (USD 2,200). To date, the group managed to raise over VND 140 million (USD 6,160).

Nguyen Khanh Duong, co-founder of Comicola Joint Stock Company, which organized fund raising for the both projects “Long Than Tuong” (The Dragon General) and “Digitizing Vietnamese decorative patterns”, said they would post the ancient decorative patterns on the internet and make them available to everyone.

“We received overseas support for digitizing ancient decorative patterns of Vietnam. The readers sent us money along with emails saying [I don’t need anything back. Do your best]. These words encouraged us a lot”, he said.

The “Long Than Tuong” book received a Silver Award at the 9^th International Manga Award in Japan, one of the world’s most prestigious awards for comics.

Some pictures of products of the project “Hoa van Dai Viet”:

Demo of IPhone back case. (Photo: Facebook/Hoa văn Đại Việt)

Keychain.

Hoa van Dai Viet Coloring book.

2017 calendar.

Minh Phuong