Nguyen Kim was born in 1934, an artisan of the Phu Khe carving village, Tu Son District, Bac Ninh Province. Born and grown up into a traditional family of seven generations to do the wood carving, he had a passion for this craft since he was a child. Seeing the craft on the edge of disappearance, in 1956 he set to do all things to restore it. After six vocational training courses, he handed down the craft to 300 chief craftsmen who returned to become the teachers of next generations.

  More than 60 years in the carving craft, he has created many unique and sophisticated products of high cultural and historical value such as the portraits of Lenin, Nguyen Van Cu, Ly Thuong Kiet… and the paintings of Vietnam rural scenes, most especially the 13- tiger statues which were offered as the Vietnamese gifts on the Ho Uncle’s visit to 12 countries in the world.