The center was the result of cooperation between the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency and the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) in 2010 under the Asia Design Sharing Program initiated by South Korea.
VKDC provides diverse services to support businesses through regular activities, including holding seminars, conferences and training courses on product designing and assisting businesses in hiring consultants for designing products and packaging and building brand names. It also helps connect enterprises with domestic and overseas designers and offers a space for Vietnamese and Korean designers to share their ideas and experiences through talks, product design exhibitions and events introducing new design ideas to be applied to production.
So far, VKDC, together with the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency, has assisted three Vietnamese businesses, Vinatea, Baravi and Vinasamex, in designing their identity brand kit and product packaging. These businesses’ new packaging designs have received positive responses from consumers.
 The Vietnam-Korea Design Center (VKDC) at No.17, Yet Kieu street, Hanoi. |
With the help of VKDC, Vinatea has new packaging designs for all of its products, according to Nguyen Thu Huyen, deputy head of the Trade Promotion Capacity Building Division of the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency. The six flavors of Vinatea products have been stylized into the images of Vietnamese women with the flowers representing those flavors. For instance, the lotus-flavored tea is associated with the image of a Vietnamese woman offering lotus at a pagoda. The jasmine-flavored tea is designed showing a woman with jasmine sitting on a mat. The rose-flavored tea, has a girl with a rose flying a kite. These designs show not only the flavors of the tea but also the beautiful cultural traits of Vietnam, Huyen said.
Bavavi, a Quang Ninh based seafood company, also has a new set of product packaging with the image of a fish in the water of Ha Long Bay, allowing consumers to easily identify the specialty of Quang Ninh which is seafood.
Vinasamex, a cinnamon producer, is the third business that received VKDC’s assistance to change its packaging designs. The image of cinnamon farmers in the forest on Vinasmex’s product packaging has been well received by customers.
“Vietnam has a rich treasure of folklore patterns that can be turned into packaging details. These patterns not only promote Vietnamese identity but also make the designs livelier,” VKDC representative Sungwon Choi said at a seminar on the application of traditional patterns to product and packaging designing.
Choi said VKDC is ready to support Vietnamese enterprises in improving their product designs to better cater to the taste of consumers.
VKDC has also organized shows to display Vietnamese products, such as Nha Sa silk, Tu Van tea, and Rice Maker, to connect businesses with consumers.
“With assistance from South Korean specialists, Vietnamese products like Nha Sa silk can show designs which naturally harmonize traditional values and modern life,” said Dinh Phu Quy, director of Nha Sa Silk Company.
