Synthstuff - music, photography and more...

Blacksmithing in Hanoi

Great article at the New York Times about the last blacksmith on Blacksmith Street in Hanoi:

A Lone Blacksmith, Where Hammers Rang
He is the last blacksmith on Blacksmith Street, dark with soot, his arms dappled with burns, sweating and hammering at his little roadside forge as a new world courses past him.

The son and grandson of blacksmiths, Nguyen Phuong Hung grew up when the street still rang with the sounds of the smithies, producing farm equipment, horseshoes and hand tools, before modern commerce and industrial production made them obsolete.

�I still remember, when it was raining lightly, the streets were empty and that was all you could hear was the sounds of the hammers,� said Mr. Hung, 49. �It created a special atmosphere for blacksmiths. Every shop had a fire going. All you could hear was the hammers.�

That seems a very long time ago in this city rushing ahead into the future, buzzing with motorcycles and business. The sound of Mr. Hung�s hammer and anvil are a small echo of a less hurried past.

The other smithies nearby have been replaced by clothing shops, a cosmetics boutique, a bank, welding shops and two showrooms selling jade carvings.

The men who worked there left for lighter, better-paying work, and because the word was out that no modern woman would marry a blacksmith, Mr. Hung said. There may be other blacksmiths working in Vietnam, he said, but not here in the capital.

�Now it�s only me,� he said, forging heavy iron goods like crowbars, hammer heads, files and drill bits. �I�m proud to be the last one. I�m unique, like if I speak an African language. Just a few people know it and you are special.�

He has not passed on the family trade to his son, who is in college and who in any case does not have what Mr. Hung calls the sensitive hands of a blacksmith. His daughter is in college too, and cannot even recognize a forge and bellows.

�Once I am gone the street will have no meaning anymore,� he said. �Blacksmith Street will be only a name.�

Odd that the people of Hanoi have not picked up on artisanal iron. There is some gorgeous work being done all over the world. Posted by DaveH at November 25, 2010 8:39 PM