This body of work grows from an ongoing interest in how everyday visual culture is formed and remembered.
In Vietnam, hand painted shop signs, street lettering, food packaging, and neighborhood storefronts are not created to be preserved. They simply exist as part of daily life, gradually changing over time. Yet these ordinary visuals quietly shape collective memory.
Rather than treating traditional elements as symbols to replicate, this project approaches them through observation and reinterpretation. Colors, typography, and compositions are reorganized into new visual systems that feel both familiar and contemporary. What appears nostalgic is often just drawn from what continues to exist around us.
Rather than treating traditional elements as symbols to replicate, this project approaches them through observation and reinterpretation. Colors, typography, and compositions are reorganized into new visual systems that feel both familiar and contemporary. What appears nostalgic is often just drawn from what continues to exist around us.
While the visual language is rooted in Vietnamese urban experience, the intention is not limited to a specific place. Everyday routines, local identity, and shared memory are experiences found across cultures. This allows the work to move naturally into different contexts, including branding, packaging, and spatial installations.
Over time, the project continues to evolve alongside ongoing observations of daily life. It is less about preserving the past, and more about understanding how visual culture lives in the present.
Over time, the project continues to evolve alongside ongoing observations of daily life. It is less about preserving the past, and more about understanding how visual culture lives in the present.
‘Honoring Nam Dinh’s Textile Workers’
The textile workers of Nam Dinh appear on the 2000 VND banknote, a familiar image many people carry without much notice.
This illustration returns to that moment, as a quiet acknowledgment of their contribution to everyday life in Vietnam.
‘Hẻm: A Nostalgic Journey Through Vietnamese Alley’
Vietnamese alleys are small spaces, but they hold many layers of daily life. Plastic chairs, open doors, voices, and familiar sounds.
The beer label “Hẻm” returns to these observations.
Through the QR code, the illustrations extend into audio, creating a sensory connection to memories of home, particularly for Vietnamese living overseas.
Through the QR code, the illustrations extend into audio, creating a sensory connection to memories of home, particularly for Vietnamese living overseas.
‘A Shared Tranquility’
The illustration draws from the image on the 1000 VND banknote, returning to the relationship between highland workers and elephants. Rather than emphasizing labor, it focuses on a shared moment of pause, where both humans and animals rest within the same landscape.
Details such as rượu cần, the warmth of fire, and brocade textiles are approached through observation. These elements are not treated as symbols, but as part of a living cultural environment that continues to shape memory over time.
‘Elle Vietnam: Where Vietnamese Traditions Meet Contemporary Aesthetics‘
‘Barber Shop Sign: Xuan Ty’
Small neighborhood barbershops often carry the personality of the person who runs them.
For Xuan, who was born in the year of the snake, this became the starting point for creating a sign that reflects both his identity and his daily workspace.
For Xuan, who was born in the year of the snake, this became the starting point for creating a sign that reflects both his identity and his daily workspace.
