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in Music & Arts

In Action Together During Traveling Art Week Nổ Cái Bùm 2024

Taking place in Đà Nẵng and Hội An earlier in August 2024, the traveling art week Nổ Cái Bùm 2024 became a platform for local artists to showcase artworks, and attracted the attention of many local an...

Paul Christiansen

in Culture

Via Webcomics About Sơn Đoòng, Hai Bà Trưng, a Link to Vietnam Across the Ocean

An enormous chim Lạc snatches Mai from her school library in the present day and lifts her high above Sa Pa more than 2,000 years ago.

in Architecture

'Slow/ed/ing Architecture': When Architects Ruminate on Architecture Together

The super cute duo that make up the design studio “Exutoire” are Bùi Quý Sơn and Paul-Antoine Lucas. Life and work partners, they moved back(ish) to Vietnam from Oslo last year, and are currently prep...

in Music & Arts

In 'Vietnam Retropunk,' a Young Illustrator Dreams of a Cyberpunk Hanoi

To Đặng Thái Tuấn, the talent behind illustration project “Vietnam Retropunk,” whimsical depictions of robots and animatronics sprouting out from everyday objects and activities embody the space in be...

Paul Christiansen

in Ton-sur-Ton

Easybadwork's Free Spirits Are Rooted in Nature and the Underground

A sparrow swooping across a special-edition can of Coca-Cola, the illustrations featured in the artworks of Ngọt's Grammy-nominated album boxset, or perhaps even the tattoo on a stranger you pass on t...

in Music & Arts

Galuocad's Artworks Create a Universe of Very-Vietnamese Whimsy

Staying in one place for an extended period can lead to what's known as the "boiled frog effect."

in Music & Arts

From Tò He to Tamagotchi: Local Designer Brings Our Childhood Toys to Stamps

For Vietnamese kids today, when it comes to games, there’s a possibility that their childhood is entirely confined to the digital world. From phone applications like Temple Run and Pokemon GO to block...

in Music & Arts

From Vintage Album Covers to 'Bolero,' a Set of 6 Typefaces for Nostalgic Souls

If you’ve paid attention to shop signs and brand visuals across Vietnam’s cybersphere, you’ve probably come across one of Nguyễn Thế Mạnh's typefaces.

in Music & Arts

Local Illustrator Recreates Saigon's Convenience Stores as Adorable Cartoon Houses

In the early 2010s, convenience stores emerged as an affordable alternative for Vietnamese youths, especially those with limited disposable income, to chill. A decade later, the widespread mushrooming...

in Culture

The Artist Preserving Saigon's Cultural Tapestry Through Hand-Painted Signs

"In the early 2000s, the market experienced an exodus of painters due to the shift to digital; it was difficult to retain customers otherwise. I didn't want my craft to be forgotten, so I started ever...

in Music & Arts

New Board Game Set Puts an Aesthetic Feline Touch on Bầu Cua Tôm Cá

In two weeks’ time, we can temporarily put down our laptops, shut away documents, and set up holiday auto-replies to slip into a bánh chưng-induced coma for a week.

in Arts & Culture

Khô Mực Studio Releases Surreal Calendar Featuring Art From 12 Local Artists

For the 2023 calendar, 'Robots vs. Flowers,' twelve young Vietnamese artists were each given a month and tasked with creating an image responding to the question: "Can technology and nature survive to...

Khôi Phạm

in Music & Arts

Two Decades of Women's Vintage Fashion in Saigon, as Illustrated by a Young Hanoian

In conversations surrounding Vietnam’s fashion history, it’s impossible not to discuss áo dài and its many iterations across the eras as symbols of Vietnamese femininity, but it would be amiss to leav...

in Music & Arts

'Đông Nam Bộ' Project Invites 14 Young Artists to Draw the History of Their Hometowns

“Đông Nam Bộ” is a collection of illustrations reflecting the culture, history and local charms of provinces in the Southeast Region of Vietnam. The artworks were all created by artists who live or gr...

in Music & Arts

Illustration Series 'Phố Trong Hộp' Preserves Our Street Corners in a Tin Can

The cheeky illustration project “Phố Trong Hộp” (City in a Box) was conceived when its author Khánh Băng started merging Vietnam’s quaint street corners with some of the country’s most iconic FMCG pro...

in Music & Arts

OHQUAO Lifts Young Designers to the Forefront of Vietnam's Creative Presence

“What we wanted was to bring iconic images of Vietnam to a global audience — metal doors, plastic stools, cà phê sữa and at the same time use these as tools for people to become connected,” said Hoa P...

in Culture

From Oral Lore to a Mini Encyclopedia of Folk Demons, Ghosts, and Restless Spirits

River entities hiding the bodies of drowned victims, spectral ma lai whose head and guts hover in the air, ma trành spirits luring unassuming victims into the path of tigers, or the ghosts of a family...

Khôi Phạm

in Film & TV

Review: 'U Linh Tích Ký' Shows Made-in-Vietnam Animation Prowess, but Is Light on Narrative

Premiered less than 24 hours ago, a made-in-Vietnam animation project has quickly become the talk of the town in the local cybersphere thanks to its high production values and intriguing concept.

in Tech

Game Concept 'Vệ Thần' Crafts a Magical Realm From Vietnam's Wealth of Folklore

The recent renaissance in Vietnam's game-making market has been strongly driven by independent studios delivering highly acclaimed and anticipated productions.

in Vietnam

Controversy Brews Over 'Minh Mạng' Herbal Tea Brand's Song Joong-Ki Packaging

A tea product featuring the face of a South Korean celebrity has turned into a royal pain for its manufacturer.

in Culture

Here Are the Fabulous Finalists of Miss Universe's National Costume Design Competition

From feng shui to bánh tráng trộn, the chosen designers find their inspiration everywhere. 

in Tech

Vietnamese Game 'Hoa' Nominated for Best Art Direction, Music in 2022 Webby Awards

If you spent your 2021 lockdown escaping into the wondrous, whimsical world of Hoa, the locally developed video game, now is your chance to show your support for the creators.

in Culture

Handbook Project Empowers Local Communities to Write Their Own Cultural Narratives

“No one could sing our song but ourselves.” — Inrasra, Chăm poet and anthropologist.

in Music & Arts

Digital Artist Transports Us Back to Hanoi Tramway’s Halcyon Days

Many Hanoians have seen historical photos of the capital’s lost tramway network, which was inaugurated in 1901. What began as a state-of-the-art electric tramway eventually fell into disrepair in the ...

in Music & Arts

Adorable Metro Illustrations Take Viewers on a Joyride Through Saigon

As fans of Vietnam’s busiest city, graphic designers An Nguyễn and Học Nguyễn launched a mock communication campaign to create prospective visual branding for the upcoming Ho Chi Minh City Metro. The ...

in Music & Arts

A Local High School Student Gives His Own Textbooks a Sleek Makeover

"I embarked on the project with the desire to help students like me have a more positive and interesting view of textbooks in particular and learning in general, making subjects no longer an abstract ...

in Music & Arts

Designer Lucia Phạm's Animated Video Refreshes Tết Wishes With New Visuals

To Lucia Phạm, a young graphic designer and illustrator, creating a personal project for the Lunar New Year has become an annual tradition. This year, instead of crafting static images, Lucia went all...

in Music & Arts

'54 Shades of Dần,' a Tribute to Tết in Tiger-Themed Playing Cards

Tết is coming, a time of joy, new beginnings and, for some, the ideal time for card games.

in Music & Arts

Exhibition 'Hà Nội Là' Showcases How Local Youths Define the Capital

Twenty-nine outstanding artworks from the illustration contest “Hà Nội Là” are on displayed at the French Institute in Hanoi-L’Espace from December 18, 2021 to January 2, 2022.

in Music & Arts

Have an Interest in Creating? Saigon's Ươm Art Hub Welcomes All.

“There’s nothing much to say of Ươm except for the fact that it’s a collective of zany 20-somethings aspiring to do something that one might sort of categorize as ‘creative.’” — This is how Ươm Art Hu...

in Music & Arts

Year of the Tiger Through Tết Artworks by Vietnamese Illustrators

“Lịch Con Hổ” (The Tiger Calendar) is an initiative to raise funds for Hanoi-based NGO Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. The creative project was brought to life thanks to a young artist collective a...

in Music & Arts

What If Disney Fairy Tales Took Place in Vietnam? A Local Illustrator Wonders.

Cinderella, Snow White and The Little Mermaid are all iconic animated characters whose imagery has left a strong impression on generations of children. What if these stories, popularized by Disney car...

Khôi Phạm

in Tech

Review: Vietnamese Indie Game 'Hoa' Is a Soothing Oasis in the Age of Anxiety

There is an exquisite but hard-to-name feeling that engulfs me every time I finish watching a particularly outstanding movie. It’s a lingering mixture of awe, fulfillment, wistfulness, anguish, contem...

in Arts & Culture

An Illustration Project Brings Life to the Pages of 16th-Century Literature

Find yourself immersed in the world of mythical fiction through these enchanting illustrations from the art project Truyền Kỳ Mạn Lục.

in Music & Arts

'Thần Đồng Đất Việt' Author Lê Linh: 'I Will Never Stop Working With History'

For Vietnamese comic fans of the past two decades, the names Lê Linh and Thần Đồng Đất Việt will most definitely ring a bell.

in Music & Arts

What Is Hanoi to You? A New Art Competition Seeks Answers From Young Designers.

What is Hanoi to you? Is it the mesmerizing old architecture, the thousand-year legacy, the usual traffic craze, or a warm bowl of phở in the morning?

in Culture

Đại Việt Kỳ Nhân: When Vietnam's Prolific History Meets Board Game

After copious exchanges with friends from abroad, Tô Quốc Nghị had a flash of realization: just like his friends’ countries, Vietnam has always had a wicked awesome history, but the dull, uninspiring ...

Paul Christiansen

in Music & Arts

Saigon Designer Envisages Classic Vietnamese Transportations With Some Pizzaz

What if your motorbike had rocket propulsion?

in Music & Arts

To Celebrate the Olympics, Japanese Artists Reimagine National Flags as Anime Fighters

As nations gather in Tokyo for the summer Olympics, a group of Japanese artists have shown their support by creating anime characters based on the participating countries' flags.

in Food Culture

For Her Graduation Project, a Local Designer Turns Street Food Into Mobile Game

The game project, with its lusciously illustrated noodles and spring rolls, is tormenting us as we’re secluded at home not knowing when we’ll be able to feast on cơm tấm again.

in Culture

Find Literary Divination in This Special Deck of 'Tale of Kiều' Tarot

In the world of tarot, each of the 78 cards represents a metaphysical inquiry into life and the human psyche. Meanwhile, in Nguyễn Du’s epic poem, each of the 3,254 verses offers a philosophical explo...

in Film & TV

The Vietnamese Studio That Creates Artworks for Makoto Shinkai, 'Attack on Titan'

Challenging the negative stereotypes surrounding the animation industry, Nam Hai Art opens a route for many passionate animators to pursue both passion and stable income.

in Culture

Nha Trang's Whale Worship Festival, as Portrayed in This Stunning Graduation Project

The Cầu Ngư Festival, a whale-worshipping tradition that takes place every February on the lunar calendar, has become a source of inspiration for artist Tường Vân’s graduation and illustration project...

in Music & Arts

Vietnamese Agency Wins Dieline Design Award for Guta Rebranding Campaign

The masterminds behind the eye-catching brand identity of homegrown cafe chain Guta have been bestowed a shiny new award.

in Music & Arts

Vietnamese Artist Shows Incredible Skills in Hyperrealistic Hảo Hảo Noodles Painting

The much-shared image looks so real that its artist, Lê Đại Phát, was forced to upload a video of him creating it to prove it was in fact a painting.

in Music & Arts

Local Website Saigoneer Puts Calendar on Sale in Mid-March, Confuses Readers

In Saigon, the sweltering heat of March and April usually drives city-dwellers to take refuge in air-conditioned coffee shops and seek out refreshing thirst-quenchers like đá me and sugarcane juice — ...

Khoi Pham

in Music & Arts

A Designer From Da Lat Brings His Hometown's Beauty to a Calendar Project

Da Lat is not merely a place, it’s a state of mind.

in Music & Arts

The Wildlife Artist Who Paints the Beauty of Vietnam’s Endangered Nature

Dao Van Hoang, a self-taught painter, welcomed us into his studio at Le Petit Musée in Thao Dien. Surrounded by watercolors of exotic plants and paintings of wild animals, he shared with us his life s...

Paul Christiansen

in Postcards

Saigon Postcard No. 28: Embrace a New Fashion

What if cải lương tuồng cổ costumes became a new trend?

in Music & Arts

How a Controversial SEA Games Mascot Design Inspired an Art Campaign

The upcoming 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) will take place next year in Hanoi and some nearby provinces.

in Music & Arts

Penguin Random House to Publish Acclaimed Storybook by 2 Vietnamese Illustrators

An’s first journey to school isn’t just limited to the Mekong Delta anymore, he’s paddled his way to the wide oceans of the world.

in Music & Arts

This Ghost Month, an Other-Worldly Exhibition Not for the Faint-Hearted

The topic can be summed up in one word — “ghosts” — but it was enough inspiration for illustrators to create a plethora of artworks as part of the Hù project spearheaded by Khô Mực Studio.

Khoi Pham

in Music & Arts

Ten Iconic Vietnamese Women as Drawn by Illustrator Camelia Pham

If you had to pick the 10 most iconic female figures in Vietnamese history, who would make the list?

in Culture

From Window to Logo

Designing the “perfect” logo is a winding road littered with failed fonts, well-intended but misguided icons, and superfluous design elements — necessary artifacts that serve to catalog the arrival at...

in Music & Arts

Get to Know Vietnam's 54 Ethnic Groups via These Adorable Emojis

If only these adorable emojis existed back when we were toiling over our geography homework years ago.

in Music & Arts

Vietnam's London Design Biennale Artwork Now Available for Viewing in Hanoi

On display in Vietnam for the first time, installation work 'Khải' marked Vietnam's first participation in the London Design Biennale.

in Music & Arts

[Illustrations] Local Designer Turns Vietnam's Endangered Species Into Geometric Stamps

Beautiful illustrations of animals on stamps take on a mournful tone within the context of extinction.

in Music & Arts

Biti's Hunter Launches National Pride-Themed Shoe Design Competition

The made-in-Vietnam shoes feature inspiring street-art style depictions of the nation's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Khoi Pham

in Music & Arts

A Local Artist's Vision of Vietnam, Rendered in the Dreamlike Nature of Anime

In 2016, Toho released the Japanese romantic fantasy Your Name. worldwide to rapturous reception. The feature, written and directed by Makoto Shinkai, went on to become the most financially successful...

in Music & Arts

29 Letters. 29 Artists. A Cultural Journey Across Vietnam's History and Geography.

“Quoc Tu” features a plethora of images familiar to Vietnamese, from folk games and legends to more recent cultural artifacts such as the Flappy Bird game or Da Nang’s famous golden bridge.

in Music & Arts

Vietnam's Buddhist Temples, Now in Typographical Form

Rendered under the elaborate, rotund graphemes of Den typeface, every sentence becomes a slice of street scenery.

in Music & Arts

[Illustrations] Whimsical Vignettes of Everyday Hanoian Street Scenes

The menacing, irritating presence of a black SUV in a narrow alleyway, rain-soaked commuters, bird-like characters riding motorbikes in the capital; Olivier Blanchin's vision of Hanoi is quotidian and...

Michael Tatarski

in Environment

Loài Plastic: To Eradicate Plastic Items, Treat Them as Invasive Species

Amid increasing awareness of the environmental and health dangers of plastic, a creative new group has joined the fight against this global scourge.

Khoi Pham

in Arts & Culture

[Illustrations] An Illustrated Alphabet of Vietnam's Tropical Fruits

Varying climate patterns and geographical topography have bestowed Vietnam with an impressive biodiversity. From temperate fare hailing from the Central Highlands like avocados, coffee and strawberrie...

in Arts & Culture

[Illustrations] The Beauty of Saigon Street Carts Through the Eye of Its Beholder

It’s easy to take Saigon street cart culture for granted, but it only takes the discerning eyes of an artist to remind us once again why these carts are the cornerstone of our urban tapestry.

in Culture

[Illustrations] A Calendar Created Specifically for Saigon's Wet and Dry Seasons

Saigon is in the midst of a full-on rainy season whose watery mood swings almost make us miss the heat of the dry season.

Paul Christiansen

in Postcards

Saigon Postcard No. 16: Rainstorm Inspiration

While the rainy season's flooded streets, soaked satchels and delayed appointments can make one curse its arrival, sometimes when the torrent hits the neon storefronts just so, it becomes a source of ...

in Arts & Culture

[Illustrations] Your Favorite Saigon Street Snacks as Seen in Pixel Art Form

Saigon’s street snacks always look mouth-watering in any form.

in Arts & Culture

[Illustrations] A Stamp Design Project Pays Homage to Women Across Vietnam

Tu Bac Dzo Nam is a project by graphic designer Huu Danh, who is known for his works on Sai Gon Sau Vai.

in Culture

[Illustrations] The Tet Board Games That Help Foster (and Destroy) Family Relations

There’s nothing quite as satisfying as beating all your siblings and cousins in a heated game of cờ cá ngựa. 

in Music & Arts

[Illustrations] Rebranding Tết Candied Fruits Using Elements From Vietnamese Mythology

It’s Tet time next week, and you know what that means: heaps of candied fruits, seeds and even vegetables in various shapes and colors.

in Music & Arts

[Photos] A Set of Trippy Collages That Blend Hao Hao Noodles With Mona Lisa

In the universe of local artist Chu Moi, Mona Lisa, Trinh Cong Son and Hao Hao, instant noodles coexist in a harmonious subconscious.

in Music & Arts

[Illustrations] Vietnamese Artist Draws Much-Needed Attention to Mental Health Issues

In her 'psychology series', Hanoi-based Illustrator Camelia Pham draws attention to an all-too-often taboo subject in Vietnam: mental health. 

Michael Tatarski

in Music & Arts

In Saigon's Latest Indie Workshop, a Heaven for Eco-Friendly Risograph Prints

Nestled above inpages in Thao Dien, a new print studio is offering artists and other creatives a new way to express their ideas and visions.

in Music & Arts

High School Student Gives Vietnam's History Textbooks a Sleek Makeover

This bold makeover project of Vietnam’s history textbooks might make you wish you were in school once again.

in Arts & Culture

[Illustrations] Local Artist Turns Saigon Street Snapshots Into Wholesome Postcards

If you’ve been fond of our Saigon Postcard series, you’ll come to love these wholesome illustrations by a local comic artist.

Khôi Phạm

in Arts & Culture

The Unsolved Riddle Behind Cô Mía, Vietnam's Sugarcane Juice Muse

“Oh this drawing?” chị Liên shouted in Vietnamese over the juicer’s raucous purring. “I don’t know who she is. Isn’t it just an advertisement?”

in Music & Arts

[Illustrations] A Whimsical Collection of Vietnam's Most Iconic Architecture Styles in Pixel Form

Have you ever wondered what Vietnam would look like as the setting of a vintage RPG game?

Khoi Pham

in Culture

[Illustrations] How Tet Traditions in Saigon and Hanoi Differ, From Booze to Bánh

How one’s family celebrates Tet can reveal a lot about where they hail from.

Khoi Pham

in Arts & Culture

Retro Typeface 'Cotdien' Is an Homage to Vietnam's Old Hand-Drawn Signage

Vietnam’s sense of aesthetics is going through a retro revolution: from niche cafes playing nhạc vàng and an upcoming feature-length film on áo dài artisans to retrofitted album covers of to...