From cultural values nurtured within community life, local residents have progressively developed their crafts in connection with market demand and tourism, forging sustainable livelihoods right in their homeland.

At nearly 80 years old, Điêu Văn Sính in Quan Chiêng village, Mường Lay ward, steadily works with rattan poles and wooden grains, meticulously crafting woven bamboo and rattan chairs that have long been familiar in the daily life of the Thái people. For him, the craft has become an integral part of life, accumulated over decades and handed down through the craftsman’s own hands.

To complete a rattan chair, a craftsman like Điêu Văn Sính must go through multiple stages. Rattan is carefully selected, treated, and bent into shape; wood is planed to form chair legs; and the components are assembled sturdily before the product is spray-painted and finished. Each step demands dexterity, patience, and professional experience.

Inside the small stilt house in Quan Chiêng village, rattan chairs take shape one after another under the calloused hands of the elderly craftsman. Free from elaborate designs, the products impress with their sturdiness, durability, and suitability for domestic family use.

Điêu Văn Sính shared: “On average, I make about 20 to 30 chairs each month. Depending on the size, each product is priced from VND 300,000 to VND 350,000. Customers are mainly local residents, so whatever is produced sells out immediately. Practicing this craft is a way to preserve a labor skill that has bonded with the Thái community across generations. I hope the younger generation takes greater interest in the craft of our ancestors, learns the trade, and appreciates the value of manual labor so that accumulated techniques and experience are not lost.”

In Quan Chiêng village, Điêu Văn Sính is not an isolated case of preserving traditional crafts. Several households continue to utilize available raw materials to maintain bamboo and rattan weaving, generating additional jobs and income. These handcrafted items thus remain present in daily life while lending a distinctive nuance to the community’s cultural space.

Not far from Quan Chiêng village, on the opposite bank of the Đà River, the story of craft preservation in Bắc village continues through the traditional pastries of the Thái ethnic group. Lò Thị Miền is among those passionate about preserving traditional culinary flavors, including khẩu xén, chí chọp, and puffed fried buffalo skin.

While these delicacies were previously prepared primarily during festivals and Tết holidays to serve community needs, the craft of making pastries has now reached a new milestone. Lò Thị Miền and fellow craftswomen joined the Hoa Ban Trắng Cooperative. Through the cooperative’s activities, Lò Thị Miền received training in production procedures, food safety, packaging, branding, and product promotion.

Lò Thị Miền in Bắc village, Mường Lay ward, shared: “Previously, khẩu xén was made mainly on a household scale with small output and a narrow market. Joining Hoa Ban Trắng Cooperative allowed women to access more systematic methods, from selecting raw materials and processing to preservation and packaging. This provides an important foundation for traditional pastries to better meet contemporary market requirements. Beyond that, from a rustic delicacy in Thái life, the product has standardized processes, upgraded quality, built a brand, and developed toward OCOP product standards.”

This transformation has unlocked a new space for traditional crafts. Visitors coming to Mường Lay can savor pastries with indigenous flavors, learn about ingredients and preparation methods, and even participate directly in making pastries through experiential activities. Each product thereby becomes a miniature “ambassador” carrying stories of the culture, people, and daily life of the Thái ethnic community to travelers.

Directly participating in the traditional khẩu xén making process, Phan Thạch Thành from Trần Can residential quarter, Điện Biên Phủ ward, shared: “I have enjoyed khẩu xén many times before, but only after directly taking part in making it did I realize that crafting a seemingly simple delicacy requires numerous intricate steps and demands dexterity and experience from the maker.”

“In my view, traditional crafts such as khẩu xén making truly need to be preserved, because behind each product lies a story of culture, customs, and community life. If experiential activities are organized well so that tourists can make, taste, and explore the craft’s story firsthand, it will make for an enticing tourism product. This both promotes Thái culture and creates greater commercial outlets, generating income so that local residents are motivated to preserve the craft and pass it on to future generations.”

From the woven bamboo and rattan chairs in Quan Chiêng village to the distinctive flavors of khẩu xén and chí chọp in Bắc village, traditional crafts are being preserved by the people of Mường Lay through their daily labor and livelihoods. As products become standardized, achieve OCOP branding, connect with markets, and integrate into experiential tourism activities, the value of the crafts continues to expand, generating more employment and raising public incomes.

Consequently, every finished product carries economic value while preserving folk knowledge, craftsmanship skills, and cultural identity passed down through generations. Preserving traditional crafts is therefore sustaining livelihoods and breathing vibrant life into traditional culture amid modern rhythms.