Iwangjik Crafts Workshop

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A little translated excerpt from <Iwangjik Crafts Workshop and Contemporary Crafts in South Korea>, written by Gongho Choi

The development of modern crafts has not been investigated due to the lack of historical records and researches. It is a lucky that I’ve got recently found design sketches and photographs of Iwangjik’s products, so that now it has become possible to see the production process of Iwangjik though limited.

The workshop, titled as Hansung(the name of capital since the beginning of Chosun dynasty) Crafts Workshop, founded in 1908, had ran its business for 30 years till the era of Japanese occupation in Korean peninsular faced its end, in other words the end of WW2. It was a facility producing crafts and played a crucial roll in developing modern Korean crafts.

It was when various traditional, cultural values were to be destructed that the workshop was established, and the modernization in Korean peninsular was initially began in this era by external influence. the workshop’s official aim was “to encourage the nation’s craft tradition” while this institution actually restored some bits of traditional craft skills as fine as the product quality of Kyoung-gong-jang(light factory)s, which had produced for long times various office and domestic goods only for governmental bodies. Also, it was a crucial moment in the modern history of Korean crafts that the workshop, as a semi-institutional body, trained a number of craftspeople who was to make the nation’s crafts tradition survived and who later became profound influences on the restoration of previously-demolished craft traditions.

In addition, this organization claimed that “the designs planned here should be made on possible traditional ways though production processes had to be modernized” as opposed to the dominated mood of modernization or Japan-ization in Korea. This was apparently a bold, important approach to restore and cherish tradition and was when nationalistic intelligentsias were influenced by Dong-Do-Seo-Gi(Eastern world take morality or inherited identity while Western world has science or technology), which was a widespread idea for the restoration of national sovereignty at the time.

Tokyo Designersblock 문서들 모음

1968 Revolutions #

Oct. 7th thu. – 11th mon., 2004

Main Areas:
At galleries, boutiques, vacant land, in Aoyama, Shibuya, Harajuku, Daikanyama

1968 was the year that reflected the period of revolutions and turbulence.
Music transcended the time and design reflected the period. Political movements such as May revolution in Paris and Shinjuku riot in Tokyo left impact on people’s life.
The impact of this year grows to become the hope for people to be able to change the world by themselves.
But if we look back at those days, questions proposed at that time may remain unsolved.

The unsolved question sparked Nationalism and Globalization.
New waves of incidents happened: Short board surfing was born in Australian coasts.
Young people putting on jeans pants showing part of their hips were wandering on the streets.
The Beatles’ White Album created new phase of musical culture.
These changes were revolutions in 1968 that opened up people’s desire to answer the fundamental questions.
SURF REVOLUTIONS LIFE REVOLUTIONS

This year, 2004, has the similarity in terms of desire for changes.
It is now that we question the fundamental questions once again from universal views.
What was the question that was asked all around the world in those days?
What are the questions we are asking ourselves this year: What is the design? What is the space design? What are life and living?
DESIGN REVOLUTION

We once again question the cultures born in 1968.
We create new values regardless of concepts that have already been made.
Now, what truly changes the world is the design that possesses the essential of living.
We are convinced of the power of the design.

Producer of Tokyo Designers Block

Teruo Kurosaki

* 저자 / 출처 : http://www.tokyodesignersblock.com/2004/designer/

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tokyo designers block #

oct. 7 – 11, 2004
http://www.tokyodesignersblock.com/2004

most pictures by janine parker, some by mno design.

1968…

‘1968 was the year that reflected the period of revolutions and turbulence. music transcended the time and design reflected the period. political movements such as may revolution in paris and shinjuku riot in tokyo left impact on people’s life. the impact of this year grows to become the hope for people to be able to change the world by themselves. but if we look back at those days, questions proposed at that time may remain unsolved.

the unsolved question sparked nationalism and globalization. new waves of incidents happened: short board surfing was born in australian coasts. young people putting on jeans pants showing part of their hips were wandering on the streets. the beatles’ white album created new phase of musical culture. these changes were revolutions in 1968 that opened up people’s desire to answer the fundamental questions.

SURF REVOLUTIONS LIFE REVOLUTIONS

this year, 2004, has the similarity in terms of desire for changes. It is now that we question the fundamental questions once again
from universal views. what was the question that was asked all around the world in those days?

what are the questions we are asking ourselves this year: what is the design? what is the space design? what are life and living?
DESIGN REVOLUTION

we once again question the cultures born in 1968. we create new values regardless of concepts that have already been made. now, what truly changes the world is the design that possesses the essential of living. we are convinced of the power of the design.

text by teruo kurosaki


the producer of this five-day event ‘tokyo designers block is teruo kurosaki. he started an international empire of interior innovation through his idée and sputnik furniture lines. kurosaki wants now, via the staging of the fifth tokyo designers block, to exhibit the virtues of japanese design culture to the rest of the world. though not himself a designer, kurosaki has been called the ’terence conran of japan’ and become synonymous with a new wave of lifestyle design that is, first and foremost,
born out of tokyo’s peculiar urban milieu.

he studied physics and was supposed to be scientist or an engineer but decided that he wanted to work with interiors, architecture and the environment. in the 1980s, kurosaki opened a small interior design workshop in tokyo’s aoyama district and began making the acquaintance of the then still unknown designers philippe starck and marc newson. he exhibited his line ‘sputnik’ in the london designers block and could relate with those people, with their more edgy, alternative ways of showing design.

london designers block was the initial inspiration for the TDB. ”

* Author / Gathered from : http://www.designboom.com/snapshots/tdb04/1.html

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Tokyo Designers Block Registration Overview #

1968…..is the concept coined for Tokyo Designers Block 2004.
We are looking for participants to join us in creating designs that flow from the “happy chaos” which permeates the city of Tokyo.

Tokyo Designers Block Registration Overview

Date

Oct. 7th thu – 11th mon 2004

Period of Registration

June 1st tue – July 31st sat 2004
Individual entry
Corporate or group entry

June 1st tue – July 1st thu 2004
Sponsored entry

Conditions

Tokyo Designers Block is open to any and all designers, artists and creators, professionals and non-professionals.

*The entries, after being exhibited, are scheduled for publishment in a TDB official publication.
In this case the applicant does not receive any payment. The applicant is deemed in compliance with the above mentioned regulations, once the entry is submitted.

Details

There are three ways to participate in TDB.
Individual entry, Corporate or group entry, and sponsored entry.

1. Entry for individuals

This is for individual entry, but is not limited to a single product by an individual. The details are shown below.

The designer will automatically be eligible for the TDB Award and any other awards.
TDB committee will help in finding the exhibition spaces.
Designer will be introduced through the TDB official media outlets, (booklet and the website)
Blog(Weblog system) account will be distributed.
TDB tools will be distributed. (1 TDB flag / 1 official booklet / 1 name plate / invitation for official party / designers kit….)

2. Entry for Corporate or Group

This is for corporations or groups wishing to participate in TDB, exhibit their work, and jointly submit entries.

The designers will automatically be eligible for the TDB Award and any other awards.
TDB committee will help finding the exhibition spaces.
Designer will be introduced through the TDB official media, (booklet and the website)
Blog (Weblog system) account will be distributed.
TDB tools will be distributed. (1 TDB flag / 1 official booklet / 1 name plate / invitation for official party / designers kit….)
3. Sponsored entry

TDB will support individual designers and creators who present work that the TDB committee feels is new and unique. You may note your desire to be a sponsored entry when you submit your application.

Possible number of sponsored entry
10 designers (about)
Detail of sponsored entry
Designers will be exempt from entrance fee. TDB will assist in the exhibition of these works, logistics, and related PR work.
Registration Procedure
Please enter by registering for sponsored entry. After the entry is done, please fill in the application format and send it with other materials indicated by the TDB committee.
Deadline for the registration and submition
July 1st 2004
Announcement
July 15th (Will be posted on this website)
Things to submit
+ Entry sheet
+ Concept sheet of the exhibition
+ Portfolio (will not be sent back)

Entry Fee

for individual designer 105,000 JPY (tax included)
for corporate or group 525,000 JPY (tax included)

* Bank account and other details on the payment of entry fee will be sent to you as an invoice format after your registration is completed. (We will ask for the entry fee to be transferred to the appointed bank account)

Flow of Entry

Please register through this website.
To register, please click on the “To registration procedure” button and go to the page that reads, “TDB Terms & Conditions”. If you accept the terms and conditions, please follow with the registration procedure.
Deadline of registration: July 31st 2004
(Deadline of sponcered enry is July 1st)

After you have completed your registration, the invoice for the entry fee will be sent to you. It should be sent to you within about a week. Please transfer the entry fee to the appointed bank account.

Your registration will be fully completed after we confirm your payment. Then we will e-mail a password to you, and this is what you will need to access information about your exhibition and other such details.

Please register your exhibition details; such as exhibition location and the exhibition contents, through the website. What you input here, will be what is written about you in the booklet and the official website.
Deadline of registration: August 10th 2004

* 저자 / 출처 : http://www.tokyodesignersblock.com/2004/designer/en/tdb.do

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2003 #
[edit]
Tokyo Designers Block 2003 #

Tokyo, is an intriguing and interesting city.
Addresses certainly exist, but unlike Western countries where they are based on streets, numbers are appointed to areas making it difficult to find your destination at first glance. Funky cafes, and hip stores are hidden on the back streets, rather than main streets and avenues.
Inspired by Designers Block in London, I have tried to emanate the spirit in which designers collaborate and express themselves. What makes London Designers Block distinctive is that young designers rely very little on commercial enterprises and do not use conventional means of exhibiting their work. Instead they collaborate and rent old brick warehouses, creating a more individualistic and interesting approach to express themselves.

Reflecting on the landscape of Tokyo, we see a situation in which many different aesthetic tastes and expressions of design co-exist. Right before our eyes a new cultural appreciation is being born and is re-shaping our society. Designers use aesthetics as a weapon to cut through societal restrictions and conventions; to recreate and redesign society.

In this way the landscape of Tokyo is changing slowly, bit by bit, and this is what we desire and hope to achieve through TDB.

Producer of Tokyo Designers Block
Teruo Kurosaki

* 저자 / 출처 : http://www.tokyodesignersblock.com/2003/designer/

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TDB 2003 Competition #

In 1950, Edgar Kaufman Jr. wrote a book called, Introduction to Modern Design: What Is Modern Design & What Is Modern Interior Design, (published by MOMA Publications). He was a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in NY, and was the co-founder of the GOOD DESIGN? competition with Charles and Ray Eames, and Eero Saarinen. “Good Design” quickly became a coin word for product design that was both excellent and endurable. The revived awareness of “Good Design” in a contemporary landscape catapulted into a pursuit for products that were considered to be well-designed. This consciousness of design excellence was pivotal in paving the way for design today.

Now, 50 years later, more and more people have begun to doubt the concept of a solitary meaning of “good design”. Originally, the concept was an effective way to develop design based on function and aesthetic appeal. In the process of globalization and diversification of values among people in the modern world, however, defining one standard of design, that is considered to be ‘good’, proved to be a difficult task. Of course, what we have developed in the process and pursuit of good design cannot be denied, but the questions of how these standards are decided and judged must be re-addressed.

With the Tokyo Designers Block competition titled, “Bad Design in the Worst Spaces”, we are challenging this concept of ‘good design’ and suggesting a reevaluation in the way design is judged. This is by no means, a call for badly designed products, but more of a call for people to open their mind and let go of definitive standards of design excellence.

As I mentioned above, in accepting diversified values among people, good design has a direct correlation to when, where and by whom it is used, in order for it to be judged as good. If bad design is used in the ‘worst’ space, it could be a viable choice for the designer. In considering the product, what is considered the ‘best’ design is between the designer and user of the product, not an acceptance by general opinion.

For this competition, it is really important to consider the space and environment in which the product will be used, considering the specific user, not consensus of what type of design is considered to be ‘good’. We are really looking forward to designed furniture and interior products based on a more free way of thinking about design!

* 저자 / 출처 : http://www.tokyodesignersblock.com/2003/designer/en/competition.do

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2003 #
[edit]
Introduction of TDB 2002 #

lf you get in a taxi in Tokyo, tell the destination to the driver. Or, you can hardly get there. There is certain adress, but it’s just difficult or vacant understandable to reach the exact adress here. If you go to the back streets around Harajuku or Aoyama, you can walk around safely, and you will find some small trendy cafes, shops, galleries, and even pretty flower shops. There, it exists that some senses of the design. but, it’s not easy to tell you what it is.

We want to spot light and emphasize this approch to the beauty of the city. Tokyo Designers Block is not a design event nor a trade show of products designs. We are willing to make fun of design and try the best how design can do to the society in Tokyo city.

Dear my friends designers, let’s play with Tokyo City with us. Design has no Boundaries
Tokyo Designers Block Producer
Kurosaki Teruro

Event
Tokyo Designers Block 2001
Period
October 10th (Thu.) – 14th (Mon.), 2002

Areas
Aoyama
Harajuku
Shibuya
Daikanyama
Roppongi
Ebisu

Sponsor
Tokyo Designers Block Committee

* 저자 / 출처 : http://www.tokyodesignersblock.com/2002/about/index.php?page=about