February 2010

Design living

The Vietnamese aesthetic has lured many to find their inner designer and set up shop in Ho Chi Minh City

Design living

WORDS NELL MCSHANE WULFHART PHOTOGRAPHY PETER STUCKINGS

Unlike nearby Bangkok and Singapore, Ho Chi Minh City is not yet known for great design. Fashion here tends to put function above form, and the luxury goods market is dominated by the world’s big brands — Louis Vuitton, Gucci et al. Still, there is a coterie of independent designers who have come here from all over the world to take advantage of Vietnam’s skilled craftspeople, low labour costs and artistic traditions, and they’re offering up beautiful, unusual and covetable pieces.

Anupa Horvil, like many of the city’s expatriate designers, originally came to Ho Chi Minh City for another reason entirely (in her case, she worked at an advertising agency). A living testament to the city’s scope for entrepreneurship, she now owns Anupa Boutique, which sells her beautiful and useful leather products. “Vietnam inspires me to take more risks,” says the energetic designer. “When you’re in a dynamic city like this and everyone is doing something mad, it makes you think you can do it too.”

Her products range from laptop cases and jewellery boxes to belts and handbags (US$35-500; S$49-700), all made of supple leather and embossed with tourmalines surrounded by a circle of bright beads — Horvil’s trademark. Everything is built on an ethos of sustainability: the leathers are all by-products, the tanneries are eco-friendly, packaging is recyclable and working conditions are good. According to Chaudhary, it’s the people in Vietnam who make it easy to produce great work. “Vietnam always surprises you,” he says. “I’m using local craftspeople and they can do any work, the craftsmanship is flawless.”

Catherine Denoual agrees. The inspiration for her luxurious bedding came from Vietnamese women who work as embroidery artisans. “I thought that with my designs and their techniques we could do something together that would be special and different,” says Denoual, who began with just a few small pieces.

A few years later, her shop Catherine Denoual Maison has expanded into a range of homewares, including highly stylised perspex lighting creations, dishware and children’s clothes.

But it’s her decadent bedding that really stands out in a town where polyester is the most popular fabric and clashing colours sometimes seem to be de rigueur. The hand-embroidered, 500 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets and duvet covers give credence to the stereotype of the French fixation with linen, as they are both heavenly to sleep on and a pleasure to look at.

Denoual’s palette is made up of soft creams, chocolate browns, light greys and bright whites, helping to create a look of rustic chic in the bedroom. “The silk bed covers (US$290; S$406 for a queen-size set) are some of our most popular products,” says Denoual. “They make you want to hug your pillow, they’re really addictive.” The table settings (US$42; S$59) are elegant and charming, the linen place mats are embroidered with dragonflies and the silver napkin rings are beautiful in their simplicity.

“I think the beauty of Vietnam, for a designer, is that it is still relatively cheap for a young designer to set up her business and also to produce a few collections,” says Ipa-Nima’s Christina Yu, who began her life here as a product development consultant.

With her handbags carried on the arms of Hillary Clinton and Michelle Yeoh, Yu could be said to be the most successful of all designers currently working in Vietnam.

Her clever use of texture, thanks to the application of Vietnamese beading and embroidery techniques, makes her bags unique, while still recognisable as Ipa-Nima creations. Baroque with a modern twist, her bags come in eye-catching colours and some feature humorous pop art references and animal images. All the bags are made by hand in Vietnam: the samples and designs in Hanoi and the assembly in Ho Chi Minh City.

Each collection has a theme — the latest is inspired by Nordic traditions, imaginatively interpreted. Stand-out items include the “OOPS” bright red leather wallet that doubles as a small handbag (US$168; S$235), the grey “Spider” tote embroidered with a spider web (US$495; S$693) and the “Matrioshka” leather evening bag with an appliqué image of a flirty Russian nesting doll (US$245; S$343).

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FIND IT

Vibrant colours and bold design elements make Ipa-Nima products stand out from the crowd

Anupa Boutique
84 Pho Duc Chinh St, District 1, tel: +84 (8) 3915 1473, www.anupa.net

Gallery ViveKKevin
Out 2 Design Studio, GF Fafilm Building, 6 Thai Van Lung St, District 1, tel: +84 (8) 6291 3709, www.galleryvivekkevin.com

Catherine Denoual Maison Boutique
15C Thi Sach St, District 1, tel: +84  
(8) 3823 9394; 2nd floor, Saigon Centre Building, 65 Le Loi Blvd, District 1, tel: +84 (8) 3914 0269, www.catherinedenoual.com

Ipa-Nima
77 Dong Khoi St, District 1, tel: +84 (8) 3822 3277, www.ipanima.com

TSafari Studio
60 Street 39, Tan Quy Ward, District 7, tel: +84 (8) 6674 0048






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