Noticing many Vietnamese young people unfamiliar with wearing face masks, Nguyen Xuan Kieu, a native of District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, came up with the idea of embroidering patterns onto fabric masks to capture young people's attention and encourage them to pick up the good habit.

Kieu’s little cozy house on Duong Thi Muoi Street, District 12 is the birthplace of many meticulously embroidered masks that are made by amateur tailors.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has put a shutdown on the travel agency where she worked, Kieu spent time ​​making embroidered masks, making use of the equipment available in her mother's tailor shop.

The idea came from her observation that many young people in Vietnam are not used to wearing masks, which is now mandatory in public places in the southern metropolis as a preventive measure against the novel coronavirus.

“The face masks we make are purely to raise awareness among young people about wearing them, not for any business purpose," Kieu said.

"Young people love to buy these masks since they are made with meticulousness and can take nearly a day to complete."

Seeing many women out of work or suffering the economic impacts of COVID-19, Kieu decided to employ them for the face mask embroidering job, sending fabric to their houses so they can work remotely and earn extra income during the pandemic.

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