State intervention in craft activities began at an early date with a view to the production of art objects for the royal court. A further development took place under the Trần kings (1225-1400), who divided the capital Thăng Long into 61 districts, each occupied by a craft guild with its own strict rules of practice. Taxes levied on these craft guilds by the royal court were often paid in kind with a view to either decorating the royal palaces or providing gifts to be given in tribute to the Chinese. By the 16th century villages surrounding the capital had also begun to specialise in certain crafts such as weaving, ceramics and metalworking, a model which later spread to other areas, thereby establishing the unique network of craft villages which may still be found in Việt Nam today.

From the 17th and 18th centuries onwards both the Trịnh and Nguyễn lords sought to develop handicraft production with a view to meeting the needs of foreign trade, particularly the growing demand from European countries such as Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain and France for silk, pottery, gold and silver jewelry and bamboo products. During this period artisans from all over the country were pressed into the service of the state and forced to work for the various guilds. Numerous foreign consultants were also brought in to impart new skills. This policy was continued during the 19th century by the Nguyễn kings, who commissioned the first major national survey of handicraft industries.

During the 1870s and 1880s the French colonial authorities carried out numerous surveys of their own on handicraft resources, production capacity and demand, with a view to facilitating the exploitation of Việt Nam's craft industries. They subsequently opened a number of craft schools to introduce new techniques and technology. In the south the School of Indigenous Arts, École d'art indigène (Trường Mỹ nghệ Bản xứ, now the Bình Dương Secondary Technical School) was established at Thủ Dầu Một in 1901 and the School of Handicrafts (Trường Mỹ nghệ, forerunner of today's Đồng Nai College of Decorative Arts) at nearby Biên Hòa in 1907. The school at Thủ Dầu Một specialised in teaching woodwork and lacquerware, whilst its counterpart at Biên Hòa focused on the teaching of ceramics and bronzecasting. In 1913 the Gia Định School of Drawing (Trường vẽ Gia Định) was opened in Sài Gòn to provide continuing studies for graduates of these two schools. Meanwhile in Hà Nội a National Elementary Decorative Arts School (Trường Sơ cấp Mỹ nghệ Quốc gia, forerunner of the Hà Nội University of Industrial Fine Art) was set up in 1920 to teach bronzecasting, woodcarving, silverware, embroidery and technical drawing.

As the world economic crisis of 1929-30 began to undermine both the French and Indochinese economies, the government launched a new programme to fully exploit the potential of Vietnamese handicraft products, profits from which (according to a colonial government survey of 1931) were already second only to those of agriculture. Accordingly, craft training in the north was further expanded to meet the needs of this programme - during the 1930s the École supérieure des beaux-arts de l'Indochine (Trường Cao đẳng Mỹ thuật Đông Dương, forerunner of the Hà Nội University of Fine Art), hitherto responsible for teaching only painting, sculpture and architecture, took on additional faculties of lacquerware (1930), silverware (1930), jewelry (1933), ceramics (1934) and woodwork (1938). Meanwhile Vietnamese crafts were promoted aggressively at overseas international trade fairs and numerous competitions were organised at home to encourage excellence.

Production in Việt Nam's craft villages declined during the years of war and central economic planning but is now once more being encouraged. There are currently estimated to be over 2,000 craft villages throughout the country, concentrated in Hà Nội and the northern provinces of Hải Dương, Bắc Ninh, Hà Tây, Nam Định, Hà Nam and Ninh Bình, the central province of Thanh Hóa and the southern provinces of Đồng Nai, Tiền Giang, Bình Dương, Bến Tre and Vĩnh Long. These craft villages provide employment for hundreds of thousands of artisans.

Training in the traditional crafts is undertaken today at all levels and in every part of the country by both governmental and commercial agencies. Tertiary training is offered by the Hà Nội University of Industrial Fine Art (Trường Đại học Mỹ thuật Công nghiệp Hà Nội) and the Đồng Nai College of Decorative Arts (Trường Cao đẳng Mỹ thuật Trang trí Đồng Nai).