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B
ui Xuan Hai started out mod-
estly, with just nine workers in
a small workshop. “After years
of risk and numerous setbacks,
much sweat and tears and many kilo-
grams of gold, I have realised my dream
to place Vietnam at the very fore-front
of truly exceptional ceramics,” he says.
His Haiphong based company now
has three showrooms and a handicraft
workshop. It has gained a solid reputa-
tion thanks to the signature technique
of drawing gold on porcelain. Thou-
sands of items have now been pro-
duced with price tags ranging from mil-
lions to billions of dong.
THE TECHNIQUE
The gold painted porcelains of Hai-
doco Company are more shiny and so-
phisticated than standard gold inlays.
Instead of cutting gold into extremely
thin leaves and sticking them on to
objects, Haidoco uses pure liquid gold,
brushing it directly onto surfaces fol-
lowing selected patterns.
Craftsmen work like artists, some-
times using particularly slender brush-
es to create extremely thin lines. It
takes days to finish some smaller pat-
terns, while for a three meter tall vase
five craftsmen will spend five weeks
at work.
“Our method of drawing pure gold
onto porcelain and on building exteri-
ors is unique,” Hai says. “Many coun-
tries which produce gold plated things
do not use pure gold. Some use ma-
chines which make the product tough
and restrict the pattern’s diversity and
the gold on the product is not shiny as
a consequence. Additionally, the prod-
ucts from unheated gold may not have
sufficient durability.”
Hai’s confidence in his company’s
technique is the result of years of costly
research during which countless kilo-
grams of gold were wasted. Hai be-
lieves this all paid off, however: “We
now know how to apply pure gold so
that it keeps its vibrant properties and
42
timeout
For 30 years Bui Xuan Hai, general director of Hai-
doco Company Ltd., has worked to create luxury
ceramics to rival those created in the golden eras
of Japan and China.
LIFESTYLE
Golden
masterpieces