--- title: "Dó Paper Bedside Lamps: Why the Light Is So Soft" description: "Dó paper is made from the bark of the dó tree: strong, fibrous, resistant to insects. Why light through it is soft, which bulbs to use, where to avoid it." canonical: https://denhachi.thenexova.cloud/en/journal/do-paper-bedside-lamp lang: en last-updated: 2026-10-04 --- [Materials](/en/journal/topic/materials) # A bedside lamp in dó paper: light through bark paper > Dó paper is made from the bark of the dó tree: strong, fibrous, resistant to insects. Why light through it is soft, which bulbs to use, where to avoid it. Nguồn / Source: https://denhachi.thenexova.cloud/en/journal/do-paper-bedside-lamp Dó paper is made from the bark of the dó tree: strong, fibrous, resistant to insects. Why light through it is soft, which bulbs to use, where to avoid it. [Huỳnh Thị Mến](/en/workshop/makers/huynh-thi-men) · Rattan, seagrass and dó paper shades · Published 25 Aug 2026 · Updated 4 Oct 2026 · 6 min read ![Close-up of crinkled, rippled paper lit from behind, glowing a warm orange like dó paper](/_astro/material-paper.4XBG06fi_Z2dF2LC.jpg) Light through giấy dó (dó paper, made from the bark of the dó tree) is soft because the sheet is uneven: long fibres, thick in some places and thin in others, so the bulb’s light is scattered in many directions before it reaches your eyes. We offer dó paper shades on three of our lamps: Lập Thu (Start of Autumn), Tiểu Mãn (Grain Buds) and Xuân Phân (Spring Equinox). The most affordable bedside option is a 24 cm Lập Thu in dó paper at VND 2,000,000 before VAT. Two conditions keep it going for years: LED bulbs only, and a dry room. An air-conditioned bedroom with the door shut at night is ideal. A bathroom, a balcony or a room next to the stove is not. If you have seen “rice paper lamps” sold online, this is a different paper with a different story. Here is where it comes from, what it does to light, and how people usually get it wrong. ## What dó paper is Dó paper is handmade from the inner bark of the dó tree. Nhân Dân, Vietnam’s national daily, described it in August 2026 as tough, durable, rarely attacked by termites and good at holding its colour. The papermaking village of Đống Cao, in Võ Cường ward, Bắc Ninh, has made it for about 800 years. A 2025 article in Sài Gòn Giải Phóng sets it next to its cousin, giấy dướng: dó is softer and more supple and was used for Đông Hồ woodblock prints and royal decrees, while dướng is stiffer and harder, used for hand fans and notebook covers. We use only dó for shades. Dướng is brittle and tends to crack when it is bent around a round frame. ## Why the light is soft This is what we see on our lighting bench, not a laboratory measurement. Hold a sheet of dó up to a bulb and you notice three things. The fibres are long and run in every direction. A few knots of fibre show as darker flecks. And there is no single bright point. A bare 6 W LED bulb is harsh to look at; behind two layers of dó it becomes an even block of warm light, slightly brighter at the rim than in the middle. Compare that with the standard Lập Thu, which has a tightly woven seagrass shade. Seagrass sends the light down into one round pool and the body of the shade stays dark. In dó paper the whole shade glows. Your nightstand still gets light, a little less than with seagrass, and the wall around the lamp gets more. | | Seagrass (standard Lập Thu) | Dó paper | | -------------------- | --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | Where the light goes | Down, into one round pool | Out all around the shade, less straight down | | The shade when lit | Dark, weave visible | Warm and glowing, fibres visible | | Good for | Reading, a small bar | Bedside, a reading corner in a dry room | | Humidity | Fine in an ordinary room | Dry rooms only | | Lập Thu, 32 cm | VND 1,900,000 | VND 2,300,000 | ## Which lamps, and what it costs | Lamp | Dó paper version | Extra | Standard size in dó paper | | -------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- | ------------------- | -------------------------- | | [Lập Thu](/en/collection/lap-thu), single | Paper instead of seagrass | VND 400,000 | VND 2,300,000 (Ø32 cm) | | [Tiểu Mãn](/en/collection/tieu-man), set of three | Three paper shades | VND 300,000 each | VND 4,500,000 (3 × Ø24 cm) | | [Xuân Phân](/en/collection/xuan-phan), set of four | The two linen shades become paper | VND 800,000 per set | VND 10,600,000 | All prices are before 8% VAT. For a bedside lamp we usually suggest the 24 cm Lập Thu: VND 1,900,000, minus 300,000 for the smaller size, plus 400,000 for paper, which comes to VND 2,000,000\. A 24 cm shade fits the space above a nightstand without getting in the way of your head when you sit up. ## How we make them I choose the paper sheet by sheet. Anything with a hole, a deep crease or a big knot of fibre in the middle goes to other jobs. Each shade gets two layers laid on Lộc’s brass frame, with the fibres of the inner and outer layers crossing, so a thin patch in one layer sits over a thicker patch in the other. That is why our paper shades glow more evenly than a single sheet. Then the shade gets a matte moisture coat. It helps the paper take up less damp in a room where the air conditioning goes on and off. It does not make the shade waterproof. Before packing, Khang leaves every lamp lit for 24 hours. The bulb is a standard E27 (the common screw-in socket; bulbs for it are sold in any electrical shop in Vietnam), 2700K (the yellow-white of an old incandescent bulb), 6 W, and each lamp comes with a spare. With paper we use LED only. Incandescent and halogen bulbs run much hotter for the same light, and we do not want a hot bulb close to a sheet of paper. If you want the light lower still, there are two ways. A dimmable 2700K bulb costs VND 90,000 extra per bulb, plus VND 350,000 for a wall rotary dimmer. Or use a 4 W bulb instead of a 6 W one, as we did in the nine bedrooms at Nhà Chín Phòng in Đà Lạt; changing the bulb’s wattage does not change the price. ## Where not to use it: a homestay and a reading corner Two of our projects show the line clearly (both are illustrative projects for a demo site; figures are made up). At [Nhà Chín Phòng](/en/projects/nha-chin-phong-homestay-da-lat), a nine-room homestay in Đà Lạt, the owners wanted bedside lamps for every room. We did not suggest paper. Guest rooms there often have the windows open for hours and the rainy season is long; damp paper sags and ripples. Nine rattan Đông Chí (Winter Solstice) bells with a moisture coat suited them better. In Khoa and Uyên’s apartment in An Khánh (old Thảo Điền), the reading corner is in an air-conditioned bedroom that stays closed at night. We made a 32 cm Lập Thu in dó paper, VND 2,300,000\. Lying in bed, Uyên sees a warm block of paper, never the bulb. The full story is on the [An Khánh apartment project](/en/projects/an-khanh-apartment-thu-duc). A quick test before you choose paper: leave an old newspaper in the room for three days. If it goes limp and curls at the edges, the room is too damp for a paper shade. ## Where people go wrong - **Paper in a bathroom or by the kitchen.** Steam makes the shade sag. Those spots need a sealed, water-rated fitting, not one of ours. - **Swapping in an incandescent bulb for the colour.** A 2700K LED already gives that colour. When you buy a replacement, look for three things on the box: E27, 2700K, LED. - **Wiping the shade with a damp cloth.** Dust dó paper with a soft brush or a dry cloth. Leave marks alone rather than scrubbing. - **A shade too big for the bedside.** A 40 cm shade above a 45 cm nightstand catches your head when you sit up. In most bedrooms we have done, 24 or 32 cm is right. Frame and shade are covered for 24 months, paper included. Cleaning advice is on [care and warranty](/en/care-and-warranty). To compare paper with rattan and seagrass, read our [rattan pendant guide](/en/journal/rattan-pendant-lights-guide) and the [dó paper materials page](/en/materials/do-paper). Not sure your room is dry enough, or how high the lamp should hang above the nightstand? Send one daytime and one evening photo of that corner through the [light mock-up page](/en/light-mock-up). Within 48 hours Hà sends back the lamp drawn into your own photo with its light, and our view on paper or seagrass for that room. ## Sources and update Dó paper made from dó bark, tough, resistant to termites, holding its colour, and Đống Cao’s roughly 800 years of papermaking: [Nhân Dân, 10 August 2026](https://nhandan.vn/suc-song-moi-cho-giay-do-post980886.html). Dó softer and used for Đông Hồ prints and decrees, dướng stiffer: [Sài Gòn Giải Phóng, 1 March 2025](https://www.sggp.org.vn/giu-loi-hua-cung-tam-giay-xua-post784015.html). How light passes through the paper, the two-layer method and the advice on damp rooms are our own workshop practice. Prices from our 2026 price list, before 8% VAT. Last checked 4 October 2026. ## See it in your room first Send a room photo, get a light mock-up in 48 hours. [Send a room photo](/en/light-mock-up) ## Sources checked 1. [New life for dó paper (Nhân Dân, 10 August 2026, Vietnamese)](https://nhandan.vn/suc-song-moi-cho-giay-do-post980886.html) 2. [Keeping a promise to old paper (Sài Gòn Giải Phóng, 1 March 2025, Vietnamese)](https://www.sggp.org.vn/giu-loi-hua-cung-tam-giay-xua-post784015.html) ## Lamps in this article [![A closed-weave domed pendant glowing warm amber, its light pouring down through an open metal frame below, a second lit shade blurred behind](/_astro/lamp-lap-thu.BFxKdxO-_UMlJI.jpg)Lập Thu1,900,000 VNDSeagrass pendant · Reading corner, small bar](/en/collection/lap-thu)[![Three woven natural-fibre pendants in different shapes (cylinder, flattened globe, cone) hung at staggered heights over a long, laid wooden dining table with wicker chairs, in the evening](/_astro/lamp-xuan-phan.DICNy81K_ZCFM1Y.jpg)Xuân Phân9,800,000 VNDSet of four staggered pendants · Dining table for six, café entrance](/en/collection/xuan-phan)[![Three identical bell-shaped woven pendants on black cables, hung in a stepped diagonal row against a grey wall, their insides glowing warm orange](/_astro/lamp-tieu-man.DC18aYHY_Z1fVH5Q.jpg)Tiểu Mãn3,600,000 VNDSet of three seagrass pendants · Bar counter, long desk](/en/collection/tieu-man) ## Read next - [MaterialsRattan pendant lights: what to look for and how to keep themHow to tell a carefully woven shade, how rattan, seagrass and bamboo differ, damp-proofing, cleaning, and why a rattan lamp does not belong in a bathroom.](/en/journal/rattan-pendant-lights-guide) - [MaterialsRattan, seagrass or bamboo: three fibres, three kinds of lightRattan bends and can be woven open, so light escapes sideways. Seagrass weaves tight and sends light down. Bamboo is stiff and suits geometric shades.](/en/journal/rattan-seagrass-or-bamboo-shades) - [MaterialsRattan lamps in the rainy season: preventing and treating mouldWhy rattan takes on moisture, where not to hang it, monthly cleaning, and what to do if spots appear on the shade. What our warranty covers.](/en/journal/rattan-lamps-humidity-care)