Two Thousand Threads
Honoring Nam Dinh’s Textile Workers
A heartfelt tribute to the textile workers of Nam Dinh, whose dedication and hard work are immortalized on the 2000 VND banknote. This illustration honors their enduring contributions to Vietnam's heritage.
Medium: Adobe Illustrator
Personal work
Year: 2024
Personal work
Year: 2024
Two Thousand Threads
Honoring Nam Dinh’s Textile Workers
A heartfelt tribute to the textile workers of Nam Dinh, whose dedication and hard work are immortalized on the 2000 VND banknote. This illustration honors their enduring contributions to Vietnam's heritage.
Medium: Adobe Illustrator
Personal work
Year: 2024
Personal work
Year: 2024
Everyday Rides
In Vietnam, movement is a daily part of life.
Motorbikes, bicycles, and street carts transport people, goods, and routines throughout the city. Everyday Rides highlights these familiar scenes, focusing on repeated gestures seen across Hanoi, Hue, and Saigon. Illustrations show people in motion alongside what they carry and how they move, with colors and materials drawn from the street environment. Ornamental forms reference details from older architecture, creating a system where movement and structure coexist.
A Thousand Dots of Saigon
One day during a conversation, my creative director Kumkum Fernando said to me:
“Why don’t you start capturing things you see on the streets, the little details you notice, and turn them into your own archive?”
So I did.
I started collecting moments. A pack of incense with its colorful label. An old magazine I found at a scrap shop. A La Hán fish once popular to keep at home. A pair of plastic slippers. Things that feel ordinary now but carry so much of where I grew up. I snapped photos, kept notes, and turned them into illustrations using pen and dots in two colors: black and red. The same technique I used in Saigon2000.
“Why don’t you start capturing things you see on the streets, the little details you notice, and turn them into your own archive?”
So I did.
I started collecting moments. A pack of incense with its colorful label. An old magazine I found at a scrap shop. A La Hán fish once popular to keep at home. A pair of plastic slippers. Things that feel ordinary now but carry so much of where I grew up. I snapped photos, kept notes, and turned them into illustrations using pen and dots in two colors: black and red. The same technique I used in Saigon2000.
Red feels vibrant, but also like a warning.
Black feels grounded, quiet.
Together they mirror how I see this city — alive, changing, and sometimes fading.
We first called this project “Found in Saigon”, but over time, it felt more like a collection of traces. A thousand tiny dots, holding on to what might be forgotten.
So I renamed it: A Thousand Dots of Saigon.
So I renamed it: A Thousand Dots of Saigon.
You hear a Saigon hẻm before you see much of it.
A rooster calling from out back. A motorbike squeezing past. Neighbours calling each other by nicknames that have stuck for years. I wanted to bring these everyday moments and the people behind them onto a collection of beer cans.
I reimagined the hẻm through five familiar characters.
Their names draw on the everyday nicknames heard across southern Vietnam, including Saigon. Given by family or neighbours, a name might come from someone’s personality, a story that stuck, or what they do for a living. Easy to call out and remember, these names give each can the familiarity of someone you might know.
It starts with the morning alarm.
NĂM LỰC ✸ NĂM LỰC ✸ NĂM LỰC ✸ NĂM LỰC ✸ NĂM LỰC ✸
The neighborhood strongman whose fighting cocks make sure everyone is up before sunrise.
Then, the spiritual gatekeeper.
BA THÊM ✦ BA THÊM ✦ BA THÊM ✦ BA THÊM ✦
She lights the incense and whispers her prayers, leaving the nosy neighbors guessing.
Keeping the neighborhood’s money moving:
SÁU HỤI ➏ SÁU HỤI ➏ SÁU HỤI ➏ SÁU HỤI ➏
The trusted keeper of the local savings pool, where contributions are collected and promises remembered.
Mastering the maze:
HAI HÊN ● HAI HÊN ● HAI HÊN ● HAI HÊN ●
The street navigator who knows every shortcut and which breakfast stop is worth being late for.
And keeping the chaos classy:
CHÍN KHA ✫ CHÍN KHA ✫ CHÍN KHA ✫ CHÍN KHA ✫
The impeccably dressed neighbor, setting the alley’s standard of cool.
Each can links to Sounds of Vietnam, an online archive of everyday street sounds.
Scan to hear a little of home.
Concept, illustration, packaging & art direction by Luongdoo
✭✭✭
This project began with an early idea for beer packaging
during a collaboration with a Vietnamese client based in the US.
I wanted the label to offer something to listen to while sharing a beer: the everyday sounds of Vietnam’s alleys,
especially for Vietnamese people living abroad who hadn’t had the chance to come home.
The project took a different direction and was eventually put on hold.
But I kept coming back to that first idea.
After a while, I decided to give it the time and attention I had always wanted to,
and see what it could become in my own hands. That became Beer Hẻm.
Thank you for making it this far. I hope you’ve found something familiar here. I’ll leave the rest for you to explore.
✭✭✭
This project began with an early idea for beer packaging
during a collaboration with a Vietnamese client based in the US.
I wanted the label to offer something to listen to while sharing a beer: the everyday sounds of Vietnam’s alleys,
especially for Vietnamese people living abroad who hadn’t had the chance to come home.
The project took a different direction and was eventually put on hold.
But I kept coming back to that first idea.
After a while, I decided to give it the time and attention I had always wanted to,
and see what it could become in my own hands. That became Beer Hẻm.
Thank you for making it this far. I hope you’ve found something familiar here. I’ll leave the rest for you to explore.