Hoi An is a town famous for its arts and crafts. If you’re looking for things to do in Hoi An with your kids, while immersing yourself in some local culture at the same time, you’ll find no shortage of cooking, lantern making or pottery classes throughout Vietnam. A Hoi An handicraft workshop is a rewarding, affordable way to meet locals and learn exciting new skills.
When I first started researching Hoi An I was thrilled to see all the handicrafts that you can get involved in there. Myself and Matilda were extremely excited when we booked a lantern making class, a pottery class and I booked myself into a leather bookbinding workshop. We booked all of these through the recommended things to do on the Airbnb app.
Lantern Making in Hoi An
The lantern class was amazing from beginning to end. We only booked one space as children under 5 are allowed to help with your lantern. I thought this was the better option as I wasn’t expecting to come home with much of a lantern. But it turned out I was wrong and we came home with an amazing lantern! The owners of the lantern making workshop were a brother and sister and were absolutely excellent with Matilda (and me at some points). They were really patient and she surprised me with how she managed to follow the class.
After a couple of hours we ended up with a beautiful lantern to take home. Conveniently, you could also collapse it down for transporting it while you travel. Personally we sent ours by post back to the UK with some pottery that we made as it was too much for us to carry.
Pottery Class
Our pottery class began with meeting our guide and a tour of the Thanh Ha pottery village. This featured miniature versions of famous monuments from around the world, artefacts from Vietnamese potteries and also modern artworks in a gallery downstairs. I quite enjoyed this part but Matilda, in true child style was keen to get started on the making.
After this, our guide took us into the village where we met the family who would be our teachers. They cut us off a large block of clay which we had to kneed with our feet in the traditional Vietnamese way.
After this Matilda was first on the pottery wheel assisted by our guide. She was really good and they let her make 4 items. Next it was my turn and after not having done pottery for about 20 years I wasn’t expecting much. I was quite impressed with what we both ended up with and so we now had 8 various pots between us.
They then helped us do some clay modelling of animals which Matilda really enjoyed. They kept what we had done to dry in the sun and then fire and promised to deliver to our accommodation in a few days. We also posted these home with the lanterns as they weighed quite a bit.
After we had finished our guide took us for a walk around the rest of the village and explained a bit about the initiative how it is supported by the Vietnamese government.
Another great lesson in local handicrafts.
Book Binding by Hand
This workshop I did by myself and I was the only one on it so I had the full attention of the very talented teacher.
We began by accurately cutting the paper, choosing the leather. After this she carefully taught me how to make the holes and showed me how to hand sew the book and the leather outer.
After we had finished she branded my initials into the leather. I was so happy to have tried out this skill and I was thrilled with the finished product. I also got to make a couple of other small leather items as well.
I was so impressed with this class and the skill of the young girl who taught it. She showed me her workmanship on other leather products such as wallets and bags, all hand-sewn. The level of detail was amazing.
It was such a special experience to learn this new skill from the Hoi An locals and come away with such a special book to keep.