Hoi An Handicraft Workshop

This is the place where you can see with your own eyes why Hoi An earned its reputation as a town of master artisans. Welcome to the Hoi An Handicraft Workshop, housed inside a stunning two-hundred-year-old Chinese trading house at 9 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, where the traditional crafts of central Vietnam are kept alive through daily demonstrations and hands-on workshops. The building itself is worth the visit. This former merchant house features the classic Hoi An tube house design, long and narrow, stretching from the street front all the way back to a rear courtyard. Dark hardwood columns support the upper floor, and the patina of two centuries gives the interior a warm, amber glow. It is one of the finest preserved examples of the architectural style that defines this town. Inside, artisans from the surrounding craft villages gather to demonstrate their skills. Silk weavers from Tra Que Village sit at wooden looms, their hands moving with hypnotic rhythm as threads of brilliant color are transformed into intricate fabrics. Potters from Thanh Ha, a ceramics village just three kilometers west, shape clay on traditional kick wheels, creating the same forms their ancestors produced for the trading ships that once...