Vietnamese man teaches himself string art

The man is Phan Ba Thanh, living in District 3, who could not finish school due to his family’s financial hardship.

He makes use of spare time while assisting his mother in her trade at Nguyen Van Troi Market to learn string art – something he has been passionate about since he was young – from online tutorial videos.

String art, or pin and thread art, is characterized by an arrangement of colored thread strung between points to form geometric patterns or representational designs, according to Wikipedia.

According to Thanh, the hardest step in making a string artwork is hammering nails as someone new to the art can miss the nails and smash their fingers.

“In addition, a single nail pinned in the wrong way can make you start all over again, while a string artwork may need thousands of nails to be pinned,” Thanh said.

It often takes the man one to two days to finish a string artwork. More complicated products can take up to two weeks.

It is a low-cost art, with materials easy to find, but the artist has to brainstorm ideas with much energy.

Although Thanh has just spent two years in the art, he has mastered the skill to the degree that many people started loving it and placing orders for his string artworks over their creative, esthetic value and uniqueness.

With great determination to pursue his passion, Thanh wishes to open a string art store in the future to widely promote the pin and thread artwork.

“In addition to opening a small store, I also wish to teach string art to enthusiasts, especially those with disabilities,” Thanh added.

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