He’d already had to turn down the opportunity of a lifetime–forcing him to question his commitment to art–and now, just as Daos501 was maturing in his new art form, grafitti, the community around him was starting to die. Good cans weren’t available and everyone he knew was quitting. Daos tried to, but couldn’t.
“I figured out it was more than a hobby. It’s a part of my life.”
As one of Saigon’s leading street artists, Daos has never stopped creating and spreading awareness of the form—even in the face of career breakdowns, military conscription, and the all too real need to pay rent.
He was 16 years old when he first thought about giving up art. Comics he’d been drawing his classmates got the attention of a Japanese studio and they wanted Daos to join them as a full-time artist.
Old tile floors, low wooden tables, and a narrow balcony that overlooks a crook of the Thi Nghe canal; as Ho Chi Minh City rapidly develops and chain coffee shops strive to out-glitz each other, the quiet, confident charm of Côi Cafe is more than a reminder of the past, it’s a key to understanding why cafes, and even coffee itself, are so central to life in Vietnam.