26-year-old Vu Thi Minh Chau, a Da Nang native, has a passion for making handmade leather products which is so great that she decided to give up her much-coveted job in the banking sector to run her own business with its impressive trade name: Lukat de Tourane.

Chau is keen on making handmade leather goods

Having graduating from the Ho Chi Minh City Banking University in 2014, Chau came back to her hometown and nurtured a dream of setting up her own business involving making high quality leather products. 

The strong-willed woman makes leather products in a small facility which was upgraded from her former private learning room in her house located on Hai Phong Street.

Working in the tiny but lovely space, full of warm sunshine, flowering plants and singing birds, inspires Chau to develop her own creativity. 

When Chau was a 10^th grader, her father presented her a lovely leather purse which is super long-lasting, and gives a better hand touch feeling.

Her love for this kind of product began from that moment, and since then, she has learned the art of leather crafting, and managed to make wonderful craft works out of leather.

The image of her first leather item which was sold at around 300,000 VND has remained deep in her mind.

Amongst products on sale on Chau’s Instagram account are wallets, purses, belts, and such other accessories as business cards holders and key chains.

Each product is labelled with the eye-catching, well-design logo ‘Lukat de Tourane’.

According to Chau’s explanation, ‘Lukat’ is created from the inversion of the letters of the name of an artisan for whom she hold high respect, whilst ‘Tourane’ was the former name of Da Nang during the French colonial period.

With her impressive brand name, Chau wants to introduce other parts of the world to her handmade leather goods which not only can reach the high level of sophistication, but they are also full of enthusiasm of their creator.

Chau said all materials used to make each product are imported from France, including tanning animal rawhides, reels of thread, and beeswax leather conditioners.

Depending on the different degree of beauty, and the application of high techniques, the items are offered at variable pricing.

Every month, Chau receives orders by 20 clients in total from across Viet Nam, and such other countries as France, the US, Switzerland, Australia, South Korea and Japan thanks to the efficiency of her online sales via Instagram and Facebook.

Chau’s handmade products are praised by customers for their designs and durability, and her unruffled and dedicated manners in the making process.

Leather handmade items are not simply physical objects of usage, but in the eyes of artisans, they are aesthetic things-a creative outcome of the making process of cleverness and sophistication.

Despite many potholes on her road to success, Chau always feels very happy to live a life full of passion, and to turn her enjoyable, and rewarding hobby into her lifelong career.

Chau is planning to attend a leather crafting course in France in the coming time, and join forces with her friends who have the same passion as her in a bid to develop ‘made in Da Nang’ high-end leather goods.