Cam Ne sedge mat village

Cam Ne Mat Village is located in Hoa Tien Village, Hoa Vang District, Danang City.Ne Mats were used in the royal palace of Nguyen Dynasty. The artists of Cam Ne Village were honored and rewarded by the Kings. 

According to the old people of this village, mat craft is originated from Hoang Hoa, Thanh Hoa Province. It was handed down to the people in the south in the 15th century when Le Thanh Tong won Chiem Thanh and merged Do Ban into Quang Nam - Danang. From that moment till now, having suffered from the ups and downs, the separation of the war, the competition of the imported nylon mat, Cam Ne Village still exists peacefully. 

Mat makers require skilful hands and an artist's eye to create these beautiful and quality products.  Sedges are cleaned, dyed in various colours, and then dried under the sun.  Then they are soaked in water to become soft before they are used to make the mats.  Once produced, the mats are cleaned and made smooth before sale.

With the raw materials like sedge, and the delicate knitting frame, the artists of Cam Ne have made many flowered sedge mats of all sizes with beautiful designs to meet the demands of the market in the north and the south. The Cam Ne mats is much thicker, better, softer than the ones in other places. Especially in the hot summer, lying on the Cam Ne mats, you will feel cool, and in the winter, you will feel warm with the pure fragrance of sedge. 

The flowered sedge mat in Cam Ne village is not weaved to become the smooth sedge mat and using to  print the flower in the background as some areas which choose the sedge to dye, the color depending on the owner, such as red, blue, green, yellow,… The pigment is cooked and dips a group in the pigment and expose to the sun. A handful of sedge can dye one or two or three times, depending on the color of pigment and the dark or light of color when preparing. The colorful sedge after dried, it is used to weave the flowered sedge mat.

The labor of weaving the sedge mat is choosing the tree to make the loincloth and diamond-shaped. The trees are straight, light and strong. In Cam Ne village, people often use the old areca to make the loincloth. There are two people, a person keeps the loincloth and another person keeps the diamond-shaped., weaving in ten hours has 1,5 or two couples of the sedge mat, depending on the type: the smooth or flowered sedge mat and the size: large or small. Exposing the weaved sedge mat to the sun and pinning the jute is the last step. This work requires the skillful people.

The product made, is consumed at the village through selling and buying. The cost is various depending on the size. The Cam Ne sedge mat’s strengths are more careful, thick, strong and smooth than the different areas. Nowadays, the Cam Ne sedge mat village is difficult with the competitiveness of the market economy. To conserve and prove the traditional sedge mat of Cam Ne, people help to share the experiences, capital. And especially, the products are prestigious in the model, quality and the effect. It just exists and develops.