One morning at the start of the month, our workshop at no. 31, DM6, Van Phuc craft village had one small unusual task. On the packing table were a few dozen candle jars just cool enough, the cup walls still holding a little warmth when you pressed your palm against them, and right beside them a declaration form in English with its evenly ruled lines. We stood looking at those two things for quite a while, because in the same morning the plainness of a craft and the orderliness of trade had to learn to travel together.
To this day ZUNGZA products have been present in the United States, Europe and Australia for some time, in the way we work with businesses and sellers right there. We have not opened our own shop in these countries, so every candle jar that travels far reaches a customer through a local seller, someone who understands the climate, understands the ways of the household and understands how their customers talk about scent.
A box travelling far needs more preparation than a box travelling near
A candle jar sent within the country usually travels two to five days, and it stays in almost the same weather region as when it was poured. A candle jar going to the United States or to Australia is another matter: it will sit in a cold hold, then cross a hot yard, sometimes travel by sea for a whole month, and over that journey the wax contracts and expands with temperature far more times than one would think.
So journeys far away make us slow down at the preparation stage. Soy wax blended by ZUNGZA is left to cool longer, enough for the wax surface to settle before the jar goes into its box. The cotton wick is trimmed neatly to the right height for the first lighting, so you can open the lid and use it straight away. The paper lining around the cup is a little thicker, and every box carries a small instruction sheet in two languages, kept short, just enough for someone who has never used a jar candle to know what to do in the first fifteen minutes.
We have also learned that a length of cinnamon bark or a concrete cup has its own rhythm of contracting and expanding, so the way of standing it, packing it and taping the carton differs for each range. These are very small tasks that few people see, and they are precisely what decides whether someone in Melbourne opens the box and finds exactly what they saw in the photograph.
The seller at the other end is part of the story
We keep to working with local sellers for a simple reason. A handmade candle jar needs someone to retell it in the language of the place where it is sold. They know what hour their customers light candles, how long winter lasts there, how large the rooms usually are, and they help us understand why the same direction of scent is loved in one region while in another it is only admired.
Those exchanges have also changed a few things in the workshop. The lid for the cinnamon bark cup range was made to fit more tightly after one very damp summer. The labels were rewritten more simply. In one season we reduced the depth of scent in one candle range, because homes that keep their doors shut all through the cold season hold scent far longer than ours do.
So going out into the world, for us, is not a destination to hang up. It is more like carrying something of home out of the village and bringing a stranger's question back, and each question makes the craft in our hands a little fuller.
A few questions you often send us
Where has ZUNGZA sold outside Vietnam
Our products have travelled to the United States, the countries of Europe and Australia, and have been selling there for some time, through the local businesses and sellers we work with. A shop bearing the ZUNGZA name abroad is something we are keeping for later.
I am abroad; how do I order
Just message us, because ZUNGZA sends worldwide. We will make clear the expected time and the packing for your route, and then choose the most suitable way of sending with you for what you want.
What does Vietnamese handcraft have to travel far with
It has materials growing right around us, hands that have done this work across generations, and the small differences between one piece and the next, which make every cup its own edition. Those three together create the thing a production line struggles to copy.
If you would like to go on with this story, visit a day at the workshop in Van Phuc craft village, see more about how we send parcels within the country and abroad, or read why we call ourselves Rung Gia.