Riding a motorbike is the most popular mode of transport in Vietnam. Albeit convenient and fast, being on a bike, merging in and out of the ever-flowing, hurried traffic, might not afford you the slow pace needed to fully appreciate the urban landscapes and their hidden gems. Vietnamese artist Bờm Sketcher, on the other hand, is fully in support of walking as the best way to document the most fascinating corners of local streets onto his pages.
Bờm Sketcher, also known as Lâm Bờm, is based in Hồ Chí Minh City, but his rich travel history has taken him across the Mekong Delta, judging by the scenes depicted in his works. Bờm is best known for his on-site watercolor sketches, which aim to capture the beauty of urbanscapes as realistically as possible, down to every missing patch of plaster on the wall and overhanging telephone wire. Most recently, however, the Saigon-based artist has introduced a new side project, Con Ốc Nhỏ, with the goal of archiving Vietnam’s architectural riches in a different style.
Con Ốc Nhỏ is a play on the word ốc, which could mean “snail” or “house” in Vietnamese. As a metaphorical “little snail,” he wants to take his own time, wandering everywhere the inspiration calls to jot down the houses that fascinate him throughout his time on the road.
“This project started partly because I do a lot of street sketches. One time, while in Tri Tôn [An Giang], I spotted a few really interesting houses [with styles] that seemed a mix of Hoa, Vietnamese, French, but also Khmer,” he tells Saigoneer in Vietnamese. “These buildings were all very old, running the risk of being demolished. I realized that there are still plenty of interesting houses in other localities, so I want to archive them in my way.”
The result is a collection of dozens of stylized illustrations showcasing the facades of Vietnamese homes in a neat layout, as if they are part of a scientific encyclopedia of architectural styles. Each entry is accompanied by information regarding the house’s hometown, building materials, and a few standout decorative elements like balustrade and wrought-iron windows.
Flipping through the posts on the project’s dedicated Instagram page, one will notice that Bờm doesn’t focus on any specific style of architecture, but offers an eclectic range of houses that simply pique his curiosity. Still, those with some knowledge of Vietnam’s vernacular architecture might immediately recognize a few recurring themes, like Chinese-influenced colonial shophouses similar to those in Saigon’s Chợ Lớn, utilitarian tube houses, or the grey-washed rock mosaic of southern modernism. This mish-mash of styles reflects the cultural makeup of the Mekong Delta, where most of the featured dwellings live, and it was also this interesting diversity that drew Bờm to the region’s houses at first.
“The idea for Con Ốc Nhỏ came during a period when I was wandering around here [the Mekong Delta] to sketch. This is a land of many special facets of culture, food, and people and rich in inspirations for sketching,” he explains the project’s focus on the southern region. “Also, this region has many ‘historic’ towns not too altered by urbanization, so many old structures still exist, forming distinctive architectural clusters. They also exhibit the confluence of different cultures like Vietnamese, Hoa, Khmer, and French; and strong influences of riverine settlements — I was really impressed by both.”
The collection spans many localities in the delta, like Hồng Ngự, Mỹ Tho, Cái Bè, Cai Lậy, Gò Công, Sa Đéc, etc. Some standout entries include a bright yellow colonial shophouse in Cái Bè that bears some striking resemblances with those in Saigon’s Hải Thượng Lãn Ông quarter; and the Huỳnh Thủy Lê villa in Sa Đéc, made world-famous thanks to its appearance in the French film L’amant. According to Bờm, over the months working on the project, he’s learnt a lot about each quirks and building tastes of the localities he visited. The balconies of Sa Đéc, for example, are very frequently decorated with brise-soleil, but those in Mỹ Tho tend to employ cement and geometrical shapes. When it comes to windows, Châu Đốc has semi-circular arches while Mỹ Tho homeowners prefer rows of square windows.
“The process of making Ốc Nhỏ has allowed me to closely observe the architectural styles of each place. If [you] zoom deeper into the details, there are distinctive regional flairs that express the personalities of that place,” he shares. “At the same time, I could recognize the flow of time across the different aesthetics and how the buildings were constructed in each era.”
To view more works from Con Ốc Nhỏ, follow the project’s Instagram page here.
