Hue student wins Japanese design contest

The grand prize in the International Furoshiki Design Contest for Students was awarded at a ceremony in Hanoi on March 3 to Phan Khanh Trang, a student of Hue Fine Arts College.
The grand prize in the International Furoshiki Design Contest forStudents was awarded at a ceremony in Hanoi on March 3 to Phan KhanhTrang, a student of Hue Fine Arts College.

A furoshiki is a square piece of cloth used for various purposes suchas wrapping or carrying items. Dyed in various colours and patterns,they can be used to wrap gifts, for table coverings or interiordecoration.

Trang was honoured for her design featuring a banana leaf and a red dragonfly.

"I think there is something in common between a banana leaf, which wasused in the past for wrapping by the Vietnamese, and the Japanesefuroshiki. That's why I used the banana leaf decoration for afuroshiki," Trang said.

Trang received a sum of100,000 yen (1,200 USD), and her design, entitled simply Banana, will beproduced for sale at art museums in Japan , according to the JapanFoundation to Vietnam .

The InternationalFuroshiki Design Contest for Students is held annually by the foundationto encourage students to create new designs for furoshiki. The designtheme for this year's contest, the second held, was to evoke a fusion ofthe student's home country and Japan .

About 217design works were submitted by students from Germany , Indonesia ,Australia , Canada , the US , Brazil , Russia , Singapore andVietnam . The jury selected one grand prize, three excellence prizes,ten merit prizes, and ten honourable mentions.

Onehonourable mention and two merit prizes were awarded to Vietnamesestudents, including Pham Son Tung from Da Nang Architecture College forhis design entitled Motorbike, Nguyen Thi Thu Loan from Ha NoiIndustrial Fine Arts College for her design Spring, and Tong Thi Ngocand Bui Thi Mai Anh from Vietnam Fine Arts College with a designentitled Into the Sun.

The winning furoshiki designswill be displayed, along with furoshiki samples from Japan , at anexhibition at 27 Quang Trung Street , Hanoi , through March 10.

Two Japanese experts, Handa Hiroki and Yamamoto Yoko, members of theFuroshiki Study Group, introduced furoshiki at the exhibition's openingceremony.

Furoshiki date back to the Edo Period(1603-1868), when public bathhouses became widely accessible. Thetradition was then handed down through the generations, until it beganto fade in the 1970s. A recent public campaign to re-evaluate Japaneseculture caused people to rediscover furoshiki, resulting in new ideasfor its use. Since furoshiki are reusable, they can reduce the use ofplastic bags and help preserve resources and the environment.

The two experts will conduct a series of workshops in Hue , Hoi An,Da Nang and HCM City through March 14 in an effort to introducethe furoshiki to the Vietnamese people. /.

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