Phu Ha Carpentry Craft Village Today

Leveraging their long-standing traditional carpentry craft, residents of Tan Thanh Hamlet in Thanh Son Commune have effectively tapped into local raw material zones to drive commodity-oriented craft village development. This trajectory has successfully generated stable employment and lifted the incomes of numerous local households.

Mr. Nguyen Van Quy in Phu Ha Carpentry Craft Village, Thanh Son Commune, specializes in manufacturing staircase floorboards customized to clients' requirements.

Ha Handicraft Cooperative was established, specializing primarily in carpentry. It gathered skilled local artisans into an organized entity to operate, contributing to the resistance war against the US and national reconstruction. Through historical ups and downs, the cooperative’s production and business models gradually lost alignment with the emerging market economy, leading to a downturn.

In 2005, mobilized by the authorities of the former Thanh Son Town, local carpentry households regrouped to found the Phu Ha Carpentry Craft Village on the foundational footprint of the old cooperative, aiming to foster cohesion and mutual sharing among artisans.

Coupled with the soaring market demand for woodwork and the dynamism of its craftsmen, Phu Ha Craft Village has achieved stable development and high revenues. Currently, Phu Ha hosts over 40 active carpentry households, providing regular employment for around 120 workers. The village’s flagship products include household furniture, fine art woodwork, peeled wood, and sawn timber.

Beyond carpentry, the craft village houses dozens of households engaged in auxiliary trades such as aluminum and glass fabrication, agricultural processing, thit chua (sour fermented pork) production, and broom-making. The village generates an average annual revenue of over 30 billion VND. The average monthly income reaches approximately 15 million VND for skilled artisans and ranges from 7 to 8 million VND for assistants.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tu, Head of the Craft Village, confided: "The village enjoys highly favorable transport conditions as it is situated in the commune’s center, making it convenient to transport raw materials and finished products to Hanoi and other provinces like Lao Cai, Son La, Lai Chau, Thanh Hoa, and Ninh Binh. Furthermore, since they are not dependent on agriculture, our artisans can dedicate themselves entirely to the craft, upgrading quality and diversifying products. Consequently, our woodwork has successfully expanded into out-of-province markets, helping secure stable livelihoods for local families."

Mr. Nguyen Van Quy, owner of an interior woodwork manufacturing facility in Phu Ha Craft Village, shared: "Currently, market demand for wooden furniture remains robust, so we are not worried about a shortage of orders. However, due to the lack of tight integration among production households—especially regarding orders for plywood and exported industrial wood—it remains difficult for us to fulfill large-scale orders. Additionally, we hope Thanh Son Commune will plan a specialized industrial zone dedicated to woodwork production, creating favorable conditions for us to relocate facilities out of residential areas to mitigate dust and noise pollution."

To foster integration, several manufacturing households in Phu Ha have partnered to establish two enterprises and one cooperative, investing heavily in modern machinery and equipment for specialized production. These enterprises and cooperatives are actively embracing digital transformation, showcasing their products on e-commerce platforms, websites, and social media networks to promote their brand and expand consumer markets.

According to Mr. Quy, in the coming time, local households will concentrate on wood peeling, timber sawing, industrial plywood processing for export, and interior furniture manufacturing, as these items enjoy extensive market demand and offer high economic efficiency. This shift will simultaneously incentivize afforestation efforts in Thanh Son Commune and neighboring areas, thereby boosting incomes for many mountainous residents.

Quan Lam