Mr Duong Ngoc Thang along with his craftmen stand beside new product.

The artisan Duong Ngoc Thang was born in 1954 in a family of three generations to cast bronze at Phuoc Kieu Village, the present-day Thanh Chiem Village-Dien Phuong Commune.   Because of being poor, he had to both study and help his family with bronze casting when he was a child. After the country was independent and the cooperative of  Aluminum copper production Dien Phuong was founded, he was elected to be a chairman of it and continued to maintain operating and create jobs for cooperative members. He established the traditional copper casting Co.Ltd named Phuoc Kieu- Duong Ngoc Thang in 2000. Currently, its products are on sale not only in most domestic markets but also abroad through two channels export and tourism.

      With the passion and desire to preserve the quintessence of trade village has urged Mr Thang into finding out new models and expand consumer market. His products are not only plentiful and multiform but also preserve the the spirit of trade village known for a long time. Owning the bronze casting technology antique imitation, his products have met customers' tastes , especially in tourist areas, and resorts inside and outside province such as Palm Garden, BaNa Hill, Laguna Lăng Co, Con Dao Resort...

His company succeeded in casting three products reaching the national record. One of them is the bronze incense-burner with  1.5m height and 1.8 m length,  1.2m diameter, weighs of approximately 1.5 tons and decorated with unique flowered design. The second is 12 zodiac symbols consisting of constellations and 12 angels in Greek mythology, such as Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces... The third is the water clock with 2,5 m height and over 500 kg weigh.

Duong Ngoc Thang bronze casting establishments as well as other establishments in the village has kept the fire for craft and they are the place where successional artisan generations are trained. The company has four casting establishments with over 30 local craftsmen.  Most of them are young. They all love their job, understand new techniques and are able to meet requirements of the customers as well as compete with other countries in the region such as Indonesia, Thailand. Duong Ngoc Thang is one of the few artisans of Puoc Kieu casting village is able to live by casting copper. Futhermore, he takes the quintessence of casting craft to a new high, contributes to restore, preserve, develop a brand that seemed to be forgotten.

      Mr Duong Ngoc Thang stands beside the bronze incense-burner reaching record.

To get above results,  artisan Duong Ngoc Thang always explores, learns new techniques and find out for expanding the market. Despite of the resurgence of trade village, he still worried that there only are 10 households living with this craft in Phuoc Kieu, a modest number compared to near 400-year golden history of the village. As he said that maintaining this job is not only for deriving profits from production and business activities, but also responsible to predecessor in continuing to preserve and develop the reputation of village. Therefore, he is always interested in training and improving skills of craftmen. Mr Duong Ngoc Thang has handed down this craft to over 100 young craftmen. From working as masons, tailors, Duong Ngoc hung, Duong Ngoc Minh, Duong Thi Thu, Nguyen Van Long ... become skilled craftsmen of the village. They are able to take on designing, mold making and casting to actual products. From that, young craftmen become closely attached to the village, creating new source of energy for Phuoc Kieu casting village.

Thanks to the mind of artisan Duong Ngoc Thang with traditional bronze casting village of Phuoc Kieu, he and his company received many awards, certificates of Viet Nam Trade Villages Association;  Vietnam Co-operatives Groups; Quang Nam Department of Trade and Dien Ban District People's Committee ... From the efforts of the craftmen of the craft village and the innovations of thinking and technology, as well as the local policies of support and encouragement, company's bronze products in particular and products of Phuoc Kieu in general will develop more and more strongly to  assert their position and prestige.