The Revival of Handicraft

Artisanal handicrafts of Provence
Artisanal handicrafts of Provence * Source: Flickr public domain

For some time past there has been a good deal of interest shown in what is called in our modern slang Art Workmanship, and quite recently there has been a growing feeling that this art workmanship to be of any value must have some of the workman’s individuality imparted to it beside whatever of art it may have got from the design of the artist who has planned, but not created the work. The Revival of Handicraft 더보기

프레시웨스트 디자인Freshwest Design, 욕실용 캐비닛

욕실용 캐비닛 * Source: Freshwest Design, UK

영국의 남서해안에서 공방을 운영하면서 젊은이들의 취향에 맞춘 도자기와 금속 가구들을 만들어온 영국의 젊은 디자이너-메이커 그룹이 새 물건이 나왔다고 메일을 보내왔네요. 프레시웨스트 디자인Freshwest Design, 욕실용 캐비닛 더보기

! + impromptu: Sangyong Choi’s metalwork exhibition

Sangyong Choi
Sangyong Choi

! + impromptu

by Sangyong Choi

The term ‘impromptu’ is a form of classical music that consists of sudden musical inspiration of its composer. It is also known as a sort of ‘character piece’ which means ‘improvised performing’; however, the ‘impromptu’ does not always follow its ‘impromptu’ic form as performed based on a fixed score, rather than that ‘everything is sudden.’

Schubert’s <op.90,42> and Chopin’s <op.26,36,51,66> are typical.

(*translation: Yoonho Choi)

This ‘Metalman(as called by himself)’s solo show will take placed on 16 July till 29 in 2008, at the Topo House 2’s ground floor gallery in Insa-dong, Seoul. Its opening reception will be held at 6pm on the first day.

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.

영국 공예진흥원 사업방향 개괄

공예진흥원은 영국의 현대공예를 홍보합니다. 공예진흥원은 영국예술진흥원의 자금지원으로 운영되는 독립기관이며 국민과 공예인에게 봉사하고 있습니다.

공예진흥원의 새로운 사업방향

공예진흥원은 공예가 사람들에게 하나의 전문적 직업으로서 인식되어지기를 원합니다. 즉, 즐거움을 위한 현대공예의 구매나 그것에의 투자, 공예품의 전시나 판매, 현대공예에 관해 더 많이 배우는 일, 또는 간단하게 그들이 살고있는 주변에서 공예를 소중히 받아들일 수 있게 하는 것이 바로 그것입니다. 영국 공예진흥원 사업방향 개괄 더보기