Highlighting an exciting new category representing one of our latest South-East Asian geographies to join Vermillion’s brand partners portfolio, Vietnam's prolific handicraft genre – water hyacinth – celebrates “lục bình” basketry rooted in cross-cultural history and community-based industry.

 

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Classified as a free-floating hydrophyte, Vietnam’s now ubiquitous water hyacinth eichhornia crassipes is an invasive plant species originally brought from South America to decorate ornamental pools at the end of 19th Century. During 1970s Vietnam War, water hyacinth even obscured military mines or barricades, protecting guerilla soldiers diving underwater to infiltrate enemy sidelines.

Called a “million-dollar weed,” “Bengal terror”, “blue devil” and “enemy number one”, water hyacinth is one of the world’s fastest growing vegetation congesting Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. With few predators (typically Amazonian manatees) or diseases, hyacinths live regardless of temperature, humidity or water pH. Rootless waterborne carpets of roots and leaves can double surface area within 1-2 weeks, by feeding on factory sludge, household waste, chemical- and fertilizer-rich agricultural run-off.

Dense entanglements also clog boat propellers, ensnares fishing nets, blocks hydroelectric power plants, suffocates aquatic flora from sunlight and oxygen, killing fish or amphibians necessary to eliminate insects. Resultant stagnant waterways are prime breeding grounds for malaria or dengue, generating foul odors, rendering drinking water sources non-potable.

Having spread to 50 nations on 5 continents by 1990s, governments spent US$3Bn to control water hyacinth, from drainage system maintenance to garbage collection, as mats are manually collected by boat workers using long poles or generator-powered cranes bolted onto skiffs. Weeds rapidly grow back, so clearing recurs monthly.

If carefully managed, water hyacinth has proved an effective avenue to remove pollutants and improve water quality. Similar to in Indonesia, China, and across Africa, should a strict control plan be enforced, hyacinth can absorb a wide range of toxins, and serve as a bio-indicator for presence of heavy metals.

Yet, in Vietnam, water hyacinth as a crop is providing surprising benefits for economically disadvantaged communities.

 

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To start, roots and leaves become organic fertiliser, nutritious for turtles and worms, in turn feeding fish, chickens, ducks, pigs and other livestock. Indian students converted fiber into tampons, disposable plates, ready-to-plant biodegradable nursery pots, egg and fruit trays, cartoon models, toys, file boards, multi-purpose boards, and special canvas for paintings. ropes, and cigar wrappers. Hyacinth can be combined with charcoal dust as fire briquettes. Some people even eat young shoots at low quantities.

Vietnam’s homeware brands have begun using water hyacinth to craft a wide variety of products for domestic use and sale. Since 2011, Đồng Nai Province started creating baskets, trays, tables, chairs and crates, now exported to Europe, Japan, South Korea and the US. Workers there can earn several million dong a month, which is a significant amount in a poorer region and allows families to fund children’s schooling.

 

Water Hyacinth Lamp and Natural Harmony Hyacinth Mirror by MONDORO Asia-Hand

 

Similarly, farmers in Hậu Giang Province supplement daily incomes by weaving water hyacinth in their free time. Dried hyacinth are more stable than other conventional crops. In Northern Vietnam, Ninh Bình uses hyacinth for handicrafts and as biofuel to grow mushrooms since 2005.

 

Hyacinth Weave Drum Stool Bundle by SCENE SHANG

 

In 1996, IKEA became one of the first global companies to begin deploying water hyacinth from Mekong Delta, for manufacturing home items such as napkin holders. exported to Japan, the US, Germany and Denmark. World Wildlife Fund in Vietnam supports this use, because it helps remove foreign hyacinth from congested areas, preferable to harvesting slower growing native species.

 

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By a spark of human ingenuity and creative re-use, Vietnamese households now see water hyacinth not as a pestilent weed, but as an empowering potential source of income.