Terrazzo tile in Vietnam: a journey of 20 years

Recalling the story of more than 21 years ago, in late spring of 1997, my wife and I first visited Italy at the invitation of OCEM and Longinotti – the world's two biggest manufacturers of cement tile equipment by hermetic pressing technology. The trip was to select one among these two companies to cooperate and to transfer the production technology into Vietnam market.

When we first arrived at the airport, we initially got problem with our visa to Italy so we could not enter the border. Thankfully Mr Ugo Giannelli – the General Director of OCEM kindly went all the way to the airport to sign a guarantee letter for us so that we could enter Italy, but only for 24 hours. All plans were then overturned and we only had time to visit OCEM. After the successful visit, both companies agreed to cooperate with each other.

10 years later in the Vietnam market, we, OCEM-SECOIN, has been fiercely competitive with Longinotti. 25 OCEM plants have been installed in Vietnam, while Longinotti has only one. 

We now have a very good relationship that is not only between the two companies but also the intimacy of the two families Giannelli and Dinh.

I still remembered, in the early 1997, after the first visit to establish the cooperative relationship, it took almost half a year but we still could not transfer any equipment. However, as we saw a great potential for this kind of tile, we still decided to be the pioneer in producing them.

After many months preparing for the factory rented in Cau Dien (Hanoi), importing the equipment and having the experts from Italy over to Vietnam, on the 24th September 1998, the first tiles had finally appeared in Vietnam market.

We named this tile “Terrazzo”, following its Italian name. This was a very unfamiliar name in Vietnam at that time and it was even too difficult to pronounce. We then registered for this Terrazzo trademark and after 20 years, this name has eventually become a popular name for a kind of tile used widely in 63 provinces across Vietnam.

Just one year after the first tiles produced, our terrazzo tiles had been selected by the Hanoi People's Committee for the main pavements of Hanoi – the Capital of Vietnam to celebrate the 990th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi. Especially, our 6 most beautiful terrazzo models had also been selected for paving around the sacred Ho Guom Lake. At that time, in order to be selected, our terrazzo had to get nearly 30 approval signatures from the central and Hanoi authorities.

After this event, our terrazzo tiles were also called Ho Guom tile. The echoes of its beauty begun to spread throughout the country. Pavements in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City and the former Imperial City of Hue were the next places using these tiles. Today, you can see the presence of terrazzo tiles in any sidewalks of 63 cities and provinces in Vietnam.

Furthermore, after only one year of production, in late 1999, the terrazzo tiles were exported to Japan. For the past 20 years, terrazzo tiles have been continuously exported to this fastidious market. Today, going to any DIY Home Center (supermarket for construction materials) throughout Japan, you can see terrazzo tiles of Secoin, of Vietnam. Not just Japan, the Secoin terrazzo tiles have also been sold in the five states of Australia.

Not only manufacturing, we have also transferred OCEM's technology and equipment to nearly 20 factories out of 50 non-burnt tile factories nationwide. Many years later, machine manufacturers in Vietnam can also produce the equipment. Up to now, more than 100 large and small manufacturers in the country have been producing terrazzo tiles.

With the popularity of this particular important building material, in 2007, the Vietnamese government had promulgated quality standard TCVN 7744 for terrazzo tiles and in 2013 upgraded to TCVN 7744: 2013. Secoin's terrazzo trademark has been used an official name for a kind of tile by the Government. Secoin brand has been also recognized by the Government as National Brand.

Today, 20 years after terrazzo was born in Vietnam, 14 other types of building materials of Secoin are also available in the market. Not only provided in Vietnam market, Secoin products have been presented in 60 countries across 6 continents in the world.

It is great that today when we come back to Venice, Italy has become the seventh largest customer of Secoin products.

                                                                                                           Venice, 24-9-2018

                                                                                                               Dinh Hong Ky