About Us

Who we are

Folk Form (Dan Gian Ky in Vietnamese) is a Vietnamese silk brand and studio in Hanoi, run by Folk Form International JSC. We design silk scarves, ties and gifts around motifs from the royal art of Vietnam's Ly and Tran dynasties: a dragon from the stonework of the imperial citadel, a phoenix from a temple roof, two mandarin ducks from a palace tile. Every scarf is printed and finished by hand in our Hanoi atelier, then travels to you in its gift box, straight from the studio, through this store, folk-form.com.

In Vietnam, visit our store at 78 Ba Trieu in Hanoi, our showroom at 298/12 Nguyen Thuong Hien in Phu Nhuan, Ho Chi Minh City, or The Reverie Boutique inside The Reverie Saigon hotel.

What we make

  • Silk squares in four sizes: 22, 26, 36 and 44 inches (55, 65, 90 and 110 cm), plus a narrow silk twilly.
  • Neckties woven in mulberry silk jacquard, alone or with cufflinks.
  • Silk-wrapped bead necklaces, with each bead wrapped by hand.
  • Clothing in hand-printed silk, and plain pieces in a linen blend.

Where the motifs come from

Our studio redraws each motif by hand from archive photographs of Ly and Tran dynasty art, made between the 11th and 15th centuries, including stone carving and roof tiles from the Thang Long imperial citadel in Hanoi, begun in 1010. We call the results reinterpretations, not replicas.

  • Dragon Dreams and Dragon of Grace: the Ly dragon, scaleless and curving like a river, a sign of rain and a good harvest.
  • Phoenix Dance: the empress's bird, carved on temples as a sign that the country was at peace.
  • Lotus Serenade: a pair of mandarin ducks under a lotus, from roof tiles excavated at the citadel, a wish for a lasting marriage.
  • Imperial Lotus: the lotus of Ly art and of Buddhism, the flower that grows in mud without taking on its smell.

The full stories are in What Vietnamese Silk Motifs Mean.

How the silk is made

Every Folk Form scarf is 100% Grade 5A mulberry silk at 16 momme. Grade 5A describes the raw silk thread: China's raw silk standard, GB/T 1797-2008, places it second from the top, below 6A. Sixteen momme is about 69 grams per square meter, enough body for a square to hold a knot.

Each color of a design gets its own screen, and the silk is hand screen-printed through both faces, one pass per color, so a knot shows the design rather than a pale back. The edges are rolled and stitched by hand, close to an hour of work even on a small square. Our ties are woven jacquard instead.

Our silk is tested at the Textile Testing Center of the Vietnam Textile Research Institute, an independent body, not our own lab. Every scarf box also holds a small swatch of the same silk, so you can check it yourself. For what silk can and cannot do, read Mulberry Silk Benefits: What Is True and What Is Marketing.

In the press

ELLE Vietnam and Harper's Bazaar Vietnam have both covered our studio, Harper's Bazaar Vietnam in March 2025 and ELLE Vietnam in June 2025. You can read both stories, with a short note in English beside each, on our press page. The pages of the ELLE Vietnam feature are below.

Folk Form silk heritage feature in ELLE magazine, page 1 of 5

Folk Form silk heritage feature in ELLE magazine, page 2 of 5

Folk Form silk heritage feature in ELLE magazine, page 3 of 5

Folk Form silk heritage feature in ELLE magazine, page 4 of 5

Folk Form silk heritage feature in ELLE magazine, page 5 of 5

Gifting

Every order arrives in a Folk Form gift box. Scarves come with a printed story card naming the motif and its dynasty, an illustrated styling guide and a care card. Add a message in the Order Notes at checkout and we write it by hand on a card, free of charge. To ship a gift straight to the recipient, use their address for shipping and yours for billing. No price travels in the parcel; the priced invoice comes to your email.

Shipping and returns

  • Orders leave our Hanoi atelier in 1 to 3 business days, and US delivery takes 9 to 15 business days after dispatch.
  • Shipping is free on orders of $90 or more and a flat $20 below that.
  • We pay the US import duty, so nothing is owed at the door.
  • For Christmas delivery in the US, we recommend ordering by November 27.
  • Returns are accepted within 30 days of delivery if the item is unused, unwashed and unworn, in its original box. Returns go back to our atelier in Hanoi, Vietnam. For a change of mind the return postage is paid by the customer; if the fault is ours, we pay postage both ways. Choose store credit instead of a refund and we add 15%.
  • Made-to-measure clothing adds 10% to the listed price and 3 to 5 business days of tailoring. It sits outside the 30-day return policy and includes one complimentary alteration.

The full terms are on our shipping policy and return and refund policy pages.

Contact

Email Folkformint@gmail.com; we aim to reply within 24 to 48 business hours. Headquarters: No. 8 Ton That Thuyet, Cau Giay Ward, Hanoi, Vietnam. More options are on our contact page.