Pham Nhu Quynh, 24, in Ho Chi Minh City has devoted her time to creating artificial flowers from discarded fish scales over the past six years.

Quynh started to develop her interest in the craft after realizing the beauty of shiny fish scales discarded from the fish she used for cooking.

“I started doing this in 2017, at first it was not easy, especially in purchasing the material," she said. 

“People were wary as they did not know what I would do with the discarded and stinky fish scales.

“We took time to explain to the restaurants [where we came to buy fish scales] and they turned out to be supportive.

“Now we have a stable source of materials.”

It requires multiple steps for an artwork to be created from fish scales, including collecting the scales, cleaning and dying them before turning them into floral designs. 

Other types of material such as dried flowers, clay, shells, rocks, woods, and more are also added to make decorations.

According to Quynh, the hardest part is deodorizing fish scales. 

Quynh sells her works at Hoa Vay Ca VAVA shop at 112E Hoang Dieu Street in District 4, providing customers with a wide range of floral patterns including roses, cherry blossoms, tulips, apricot blossoms, and more, all made from the scales of many different kinds of fish. 

She also makes bouquets and paintings out of fish scales.

It usually takes Quynh 15 minutes to make a flower out of fish scales, two to three hours to craft a bouquet, and up to a month to finish a painting. 

Flowers at Quynh’s shop fetch VND100,000-3 million (US$4-123) while paintings cost up to tens of millions of dong. 

Quynh said customers in Vietnam often buy her products to decorate their houses or to present to their friends and relatives, while most clients from other countries buy wholesale for reselling. 

Besides earning income from the craft, Quynh has also created jobs for 80 disabled people in Ho Chi Minh City who are employed to process the products. 

In the future, she plans to boost production, generate more jobs, and conduct workshops for participants to make artworks from fish scales.

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