Instead of just buying a souvenir, many international tourists choose to make silver jewelry by hand during their trip to Nha Trang. This experience helps them connect with the craft of jewelry making in a more intimate way, while creating an item with their own personal touch.
Making jewelry by hand
At Jewelm, a silver ring-making workshop on Nguyen Thien Thuat Street (Nha Trang Ward), jewelers' tools are laid out on tables for tourists to use directly. From a piece of silver, a block of wax, or silver clay, participants take turns shaping, grinding, filing, and finishing their pieces under the guidance of skilled artisans.
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| Tourists directly experience the craft of jewelry making. |
During one workshop session, Gennady (21 years old) and Victoria (20 years old), two tourists from Russia, tried making silver rings together. For those new to jewelry making, the techniques are not always easy. Every cut, grind, or adjustment requires careful attention. Gennady shared that Russia also has similar services, but the cost is higher than in Vietnam. What excited him was being able to craft the piece of jewelry himself instead of just purchasing a finished product. For Victoria, the experience held its own special meaning. “I've always wanted to make something with my own hands, especially a ring I can keep with me. Going through each step together with a friend also makes this time truly memorable,” she said.
Meanwhile, Wislon (28 years old, an Australian tourist) shared that this was quite an interesting combination of experiences when visiting Nha Trang.
Along with Jewelm, several other establishments in Nha Trang have also brought the silver jewelry-making experience closer to visitors. At Lilac DIY& on Trinh Phong Street (Nha Trang Ward), a silver clay ring-making workshop attracts international tourists. Starting with raw materials, participants shape the ring according to their own ideas and finish the piece by the end of the session.
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| Participants experience the manual silver rolling process to determine the thickness of the ring blank. |
It is no coincidence that rings have become a popular choice in these hands-on sessions. Rings have a relatively simple structure, can be completed in a short time, and are easy to personalize. Makers can choose the style, shape, or add their own custom details to the finished piece.
Bringing jewelry making into an experience session
Vu Duy Phong (42 years old, Nha Trang Ward), owner of Jewelm, formerly worked as a silversmith at several major jewelry shops in Ho Chi Minh City. Throughout his career, he became well accustomed to the steps that typically occur behind the jeweler's bench, from processing silver to shaping, filing, and finishing jewelry.
In March 2025, a younger friend of his opened a silver ring workshop model in Ho Chi Minh City. Realizing that customers could directly participate in the product-making process, and moreover, that Nha Trang had few such experiential workshops, he began looking into it. By April 2026, he opened Jewelm in Nha Trang. “Instead of creating a product completely different from traditional jewelry making, the workshop retains the fundamental steps and adjusts them so that people without experience can also participate. The instructors do not do everything for them, but assist when customers encounter difficulties,” Mr. Phong said.
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| Filing and shaping – an important stage in the handcrafted jewelry making process. |
Currently, Jewelm offers three experience formats. With the handmade method, guests can participate from melting and rolling silver to shaping, grinding, filing, and engraving. This method is suitable for relatively simple designs and is usually completed in 2-3 hours. The second method is wax modeling. From a block of jeweler's wax, guests use tools to shape their ideas. Afterwards, the model is cast in silver. Guests return to file, adjust, and finish the product. Due to the additional casting step, this format is carried out over two sessions. The third method is shaping with silver clay. Guests directly shape the material before the product is fired at high temperatures. After firing, the binder and organic components are removed, leaving 999 silver.
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| The product after completion. |
Ms. Phan Loc Tu (22 years old, Tay Nha Trang Ward), an experience instructor at Jewelm, shared: “Among the three methods, the handmade silver craft is currently chosen more by guests because the duration is moderate, making it suitable for international tourists who often only have a short stay.”
Each workshop session is limited to about 5-6 guests. With the handmade method, the experience cost ranges from 1.1 million VND or more depending on the design and the amount of silver used. Other formats have higher prices due to differences in time and materials.
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| The polishing stage of silver jewelry. |
Unlike buying a finished piece of jewelry, workshop participants must dedicate time to their product. There may be lines that are not entirely even, a few steps that need to be redone, or things that take longer than expected. But it is that very process that makes the piece unique.
For the jewelry craft, this is also a different approach. Instead of only appearing through finished products in glass display cases, the craft is brought closer to users through direct hands-on experience. For tourists, personally rolling a piece of silver, shaping wax, or patiently filing a ring helps them better understand the meticulousness behind a piece of jewelry.
TRAN HANG
