Built with Webflow
Lumen Artspace - Heritage in Motion | Award-winning website
Dang Nguyen
Lumen Artspace - Heritage in Motion | Award-winning website
Lumen Studio was honored to be entrusted with a special collection of Vietnamese lacquer art that is rich in history and culture. The vision was to invite visitors to step into a quiet, curated museum, moving effortlessly through rooms of work, guided by story, light, and space.
Awards & Recognition: CSS Site of the Day, FWA Site of the Day, Awwwards Honorable Mention, CSS Winner, featured on GSAP Showcase and Muzli.
Project by our team at Lumen Studio
Services: Creative Web Design & Webflow Development
Creative Director & Webflow Developer: Dang Nguyen
Lead Designer: Duc Nguyen
Project Manager: Annie Nguyen
Lumen Studio recognized with international awards for this project
Project snapshot
Our client is an online gallery dedicated to Vietnamese art, with a focus on the timeless tradition of lacquer painting.
The goal is to design and build an immersive Webflow experience that showcases the lacquer works of late artist Vo Xuan Huy without overwhelming visitors, while introducing a global audience about Vietnamese lacquer art and its history.
A unique project unlike anything we've taken on before
Lacquer painting is one of Vietnam’s most important traditional art forms: layers of resin, pigment, sanding, and polishing that can take months to complete, especially in Hue, where the craft is deeply rooted.
Vo Xuan Huy’s works reference Hue, the Imperial City, and traces of the Vietnam War, turning each piece into a window into Vietnam’s past and present.
The challenge:
Tell this cultural story in a way international visitors can grasp quickly.
Showcase each artwork in detail without visually crowding the experience.
Make the site feel like a curated gallery, not a busy e‑commerce grid.
Reach a level of craft that could stand alongside global award‑winning websites.
The experience of visiting an art exhibition, curated digitally
How we approached the project
Story-first structure
The narrative was mapped so visitors are gently introduced to Vietnamese lacquer art, then to Vo Xuan Huy, and finally to the full collection and historical “Journey Through Time” content.
The architecture supports both guided viewing (About → Journey → Artworks) and free exploration, mirroring how someone might wander through a gallery at their own pace.
A gallery layout that lets the art breathe
To avoid overwhelming visitors, we explored many layout options before choosing a clean, animated grid that gives each piece room to stand alone.
Typography and color are restrained so the lacquer textures of each artwork remain the star.
Subtle motion invites interaction without competing with the paintings.
Like in a museum, you are introduced to the artist, then discover the details that bring each piece to life.
In the Reflection of Art section, artworks drift horizontally like a river of memories.
A WebGL ripple effect reacts to cursor movement, echoing how a small gesture can disturb the surface and reveal deeper layers - just like lacquer’s multi-layered process.
This transforms the page into an interactive metaphor for history and reflection, extending the feeling of walking along a quiet gallery wall.
Artworks flow horizontally like a river of memories, turning the section into an interactive, gallery-like reflection on history.
About Page: Education without heaviness
The About page gives a condensed introduction on Vietnamese lacquer - from traditional materials to its evolution in modern Vietnam - into short, image-supported sections.
Visitors learn why the medium matters and why this collection is special, without feeling like they’re reading a dense catalogue essay.
A concise, image-led introduction to Vietnamese lacquer
Craft-focused build
Technically, the project combines:
Webflow for structure, CMS, and responsive layout.
GSAP and custom WebGL for smooth scroll and animations.
A scalable CMS for artworks, artists, and essays, so new pieces and stories can be added while keeping the museum-like feel intact.
The final outcome is a globally recognized project honoring Vietnamese culture & heritage.
International recognition: Lumen Artspace has received multiple awards, including CSS Site of the Day, FWA Site of the Day, and an Awwwards Honorable Mention.
Cultural visibility: The site draws global attention to Vietnamese lacquer art and to Vo Xuan Huy’s work in particular, presenting them in a contemporary, digital museum setting.
Studio milestone: This project became a defining moment for Lumen Studio, showcasing the team’s ability to blend cultural storytelling, high-end visual design, and advanced Webflow/animation techniques into one cohesive experience.
Lumen Artspace will always be a project our team holds close. Being trusted to carry Vo Xuan Huy’s legacy and Vietnamese lacquer art into a digital space was both a responsibility and a gift, and we approached every decision - story, layout, and interaction - with that in mind. Seeing the site recognized internationally is deeply meaningful, but what matters most to us is knowing that more people around the world can now discover this art form and the stories behind it; contributing to that journey as a studio is something we’re genuinely grateful and proud to have done.
Dang Nguyen - Creative Director, Founder of Lumen Studio
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Posted Dec 23, 2025
Award-winning, museum-like web experience for Vietnamese lacquer art, blending rich cultural storytelling with refined UI and immersive, interactive details.
