Introducing Vietnamese Soul to Sakura Country
“Simple but not plain, tender but not weak” is the most outstanding character we felt at the first meeting with Ms Duong Thi Kim Ngan, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Handicraft and Art Articles Export - Import Corporation (Artexport). She, together with her colleagues at Artexport, has brought thousands of unique fine-arts handicrafts imbued with Vietnamese cultural identities to the Sakura Country, a pseudonym of Japan.
Speaking of the process to enter the Japanese market, Ngan said, she faced various difficulties to seek common interests with partners and approaching customers because Japanese people are not usually open to strangers. But with experience with Japanese cultural identities, keen thinking and fine arts knowledge, Artexport has gradually weathered all cultural barriers to build the trust with Japanese enterprises.
The management of Artexport invested a large sum of money to train designers and build factories. Experienced, skilled and knowledgeable designers created a wide range of fine-arts masterpieces for Japanese customers. The company’s annual import and export turnover with Japan amounts to US$2 million a year.
Apart from solutions to reform and change product designs and materials, Artextport also expands trade promotion activities by participating in famous handicraft trade fairs in Frankfurt (Germany), Tokyo and Osaka (Japan) and increases e-commerce.
From the success with the Japanese market, Ms Duong Thi Kim Ngan and her colleagues have led Artexport to new markets like the Middle East, Africa, South America, specially the U.S., France, Germany and the U.K.
Song Tham
Vietnamese
