Digitised database for historic Vietnamese patterns launched

This poses a big challenge for costume artists. To offer a solution to this issue, a group of young people interested in the history and culture of Vietnam have built an image database of different symbolic patterns of Vietnamese culture. 

Not many historical movies were released in 2015. However, the ones that were released all featured costuming mistakes. To make good historical movies, film makers have to dedicate time for adequate research of the period their movies are based in.

"I’ve made some historical movies. I faced some difficulties in research progress because there are not many documents about costumes in different periods of Vietnamese history. And the documents are not gathered and well preserved", Nguyen Manh Duc, an artist joining The Song about a Musician in Thang Long Citadel movie.

Dai Viet Co Phong group was established to compile a database of costumes and symbolic patterns of Vietnam throughout history.

"Digitising the images is the most effective way to help film makers and artists. They can easily print the images on various kinds of materials. They don’t have to draw the patterns. And they can easily share the database", artist Cu Minh Khoi said.

After 2 months in operation, the project caught the attention of the community. Everyone can access the database and download the images for free. These patterns can then be used in apparel design, household items such as cups and plates, or printed in books. This project was launched to promote the development of the creative industry in Vietnam.