With her talent for painting and her special love for conical hats, Nguyen Thi Men, 40, residing in Hoa Tho Tay Ward, Cam Le District, Da Nang, has earned extra income by painting on conical hats. Her job significantly contributes to preserving the vitality of conical hat - one of the typical cultural features of the Vietnamese people.
Initially, Nguyen Thi Men only painted conical hats for her own use. After realising that many people shared her passion, she started to pursue this job in 2020.
The painting price ranges from VND100,000 - VND350,000/product. The price depends on the complexity of the painting and the material of the conical hat.
With a large number of orders, Men receives active support from her husband, Mr. Le Thanh Binh. Both of them graduated from the University of Arts, the Hue University.
The conical hats painted by Men with scenic spots of Da Nang in particular and Viet Nam in general, different kinds of flowers, and others
Acrylic paint is used to paint conical hats. This type of paint has a reasonable price, good colour adhesion, and beautiful colours.
To complete a painting on a conical hat, it must go through many stages, including sketching, colouring, waiting for it to dry, colouring a second time, drawing lines, completing the details, and then coating to ensure the durability of the paint.
One side of the conical hat will be written according to customer's request.
The finished conical hats are waiting to be delivered to customers. Men said that the number of orders usually increases in the summer and gradually decreases in the rainy season. Her customers are individuals, tour groups, businesses or organisations.
Men shared that besides bringing additional income for her family, the job of painting conical hats is also a passion, a love and a desire to contribute to preserving the vitality of conical hats - a typical cultural feature of Vietnamese people in modern life today.
Reporting by Thu Duyen - Translating by M.Dung, T.Tung