LACQUER ON WOOD

Waa. x Phan Dang Hoang in Milan

Nguyễn Gia Trí, Vườn xuân Trung Nam Bắc (1969–1989)

This season, waa. has the chance to collaborate with designer Phan Đăng Hoàng in his Milan show. His new collection takes inspiration from the lacquer paintings of Nguyễn Gia Trí. When looking at his works, you feel the strength of warm and vibrant colors, layer after layer creating depth and rhythm. Hoàng brought that feeling into his clothes. Fabric is treated almost like lacquer itself, built up in layers so the designs carry both movement and quiet beauty, like a classic lacquer painting.

A SHARED SPIRIT

In this collaboration, Waa. continues what we always try to do: to honor Vietnamese craft while seeing it through the fresh perspective of a young generation. With leather bags and shoes, we think in the same way. Every piece is shaped by time and touch. Edges are smoothed, surfaces are finished again and again until they reach the quiet depth we are looking for.

Photograph sourced from Hương Nga Fine Arts

THE LITTLE CHARM IN YOUR HAND

Lacquer is not the same as paint. It begins with wood, strengthened by layers of cloth and clay. Each coat is brushed on by hand, left to rest, then sanded away before another is added. Layer after layer, the surface grows smooth as water.

Sanding is the heart of the process. It is what brings out the depth, cutting into the surface so the next layer can rest on it, and slowly revealing the hidden textures of color and eggshell beneath. The cycle of applying, drying, sanding, and reapplying is repeated many times, until the final surface is polished.

Look closely and you will see pieces of real eggshell. On the black charm, they have been sanded many times until smooth to the touch. On the yellow one, they are sanded fewer times, so their texture still lingers under your fingers.

Between the spirit of lacquer in Nguyễn Gia Trí’s paintings as carried into Hoàng’s collection, and the patience of leatherwork in ours, between tradition and the present, and between Vietnam and the wider world lies this small object in your hand, carrying with it the quiet weight of time. Each layer is shaped with patience, each surface touched and sanded until it feels right. 

For us, it is not only a charm, but a way to share a part of Vietnam with you here in Milan.