Being harvested twice a year to make mats, sedge is dried under the sun, then clustered and dyed before being woven into sedge mats. Sedge mat making is a traditional craft in Phu Yen.

Farmers collecting sedge… – PHOTOS: VU HUYEN

… they then bunch the sedge up

As sedge fields are crisscrossed by canals, bunches of sedge are carried through waterways and loaded onto trucks which transport them to sedge mat making households

A truck is full of bunches of sedge

The plant is cut and sun-dried…

… and is dyed different colors

A sedge mat making unit

An artisan at the last stage of making a sedge mat

 

Vu Huyen (SGT)