Exhibition to boost Korean craft’s future

The first Korean Traditional Craft Future Exhibition kicked off at Lotte Gallery in Avenuel on Wednesday.

Hosted by Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea, organized by Korea Craft & Design Foundation and supported by Lotte Department Store, the exhibition features hundreds of craftworks by 98 artisans who either hold the title of Intangible Cultural Property or are learning from them.

Visitors can see 34 genres of Korean traditional crafts, including mother-of-pearl works, bow and arrow works, gold foil works and quilted works. All exhibits are for sale. Prices range from 55,000 won ($47) to 20 million won.

A visitor looks around the exhibition.                              Korean Craft & Design Foundation

“Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea has so far concentrated on preserving and transmitting Korean traditions. But lately we‘ve started to discuss how we can boost the market for Korean traditional crafts in a more innovative way. This exhibition will be a chance to see how our crafts can still be used today,” said Eom Seung-yong, policy director at Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea.

"Soaring," a gold foil work by Kim Gi-ho Korean Craft & Design Foundation

The exhibition is notable because it shows how the gradually-vanishing traditional craft techniques can still be a means to produce incredible goods for everyday life. Sohn Hye-won, director of Cross Point and a well-known brand identity designer, participated as the general director of the exhibition and searched for ways to commercialize traditional craft works.

“It is not a problem that they are expensive because there are always people who buy expensive works. The problem is that people do not want them no matter how cheap or expensive they are. There are lots of traditional craftworks that cannot be used immediately in our daily life anymore. So I tried to give them a contemporary touch and turn them into useful goods or beautiful ornaments,” said Sohn.

Poles signifying prayer for a good harvest by Kim Jong-heung Korean Craft & Design Foundation

Korean traditional gold foil technique, for example, was originally used to make luxurious details on hanbok. But it is not so attractive today because the gold foils fall out when the garments are put through the washing machine. So instead, Sohn persuaded the gold foil work artisan to try creating amazing artworks using the technique. Bows and arrows, which are useless today as well, were also framed and turned into artworks.

Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea signed an agreement with Lotte Department Store on the opening day of the exhibition to promote the sales of traditional crafts made by artisans holding the title of Intangible Cultural Property.

“We plan to support the preservation and transmission of our intangible cultural assets by expanding the market through Lotte Department Store’s wide distribution network and strong clientele,” said Jeong Seung-in, its marketing managing director.

The exhibition runs through June 30 at the Lotte Gallery in Avenuel in Sogong-dong, central Seoul. For more information, contact Korea Craft & Design Foundation at (02) 398-7929 or visit www.kcdf.kr.

By Park Min-young   (claire@heraldm.com)