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- Cha Jong-sun
Professor at Yewon Arts University, Hanji Formative Arts Department
- Hanji has become a new focus of attention from an industrial perspective, chiefly due to its superb functional qualities, including heat insulation, insect and bacteria repellant, and odor dispersal. People are showing great interest in hanji-made interiors and household goods, such as lighting covers, Art Walls, and table sets. Tired of the rapid process of industrialization and urbanization, modern people are turning to the environmentally-friendly lifestyle that attaches importance to ‘quality of life’. Such has something to do with the new-found popularity of hanji.
- Amid the lively discussion about hanji from the cultural and industrial perspectives, the Hanji Formative Arts Department of Yewon Arts University took on a special project to inform the world of the excellence of hanji, principally by decorating the Guest Room of the UN Secretary General’s official residence in New York and the official residence of the Korean Mission to the UN with hanji. The project was first proposed by National Assembly member Lee Gwang-cheol (Culture and Tourism Committee) in the summer of 2008. Thereafter, the City of Jeonsu and Yewon Arts University jointly established a plan. We met UN Secretary General Ban Ki-mun and his wife, and Ambassador Park In-guk of the Korean Mission to the UN to discuss the matter. During the two hottest months of the year, many UN officials expressed their admiration for the fantastic changes made in building spaces using the unique material hanji.
- We carried out the work based on the concept of “Modest but not shabby, splendid but not extravagant,” which was used to express the esthetic quality of Korea’s ancient Baekje Dynasty, well known for its temperance and dignity. We felt that the concept fits the elegant and simplistic characteristics of hanji and goes well with the warmhearted and hospitable personalities of Mr. and Mrs. Ban. We made a plan focusing on the harmony between tradition and modernity based on such a concept, while minimizing embellishments and accentuating the atmosphere of elegance, refinement and modernity.
- The work on the Guest Room of the UN Secretary General’s official residence in the Sutton Place neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City was carried out with the emphasis on making it as comfortable a space as possible in a way that would reflect the house owner’s wish for visitors to feel at home there. Although the art of wall painting is well developed in the U.S., we chose wallpaper and used functional hanji containing wormwood, charcoal and elvan ingredients, and wallpaper with a traditional Dangcho pattern. A bandaji (chest with a hinged front flap) and a two-tiered wardrobe made with a traditional hanji-making technique were also placed in the home. Such hanji-made furniture displays a uniquely Korean color combination and pattern. Cloth made with hanji was used for the bedding, sofa cover, and curtains.
- A total of fourteen 3 m-long lighting fixtures with hanji-shades were installed in the Main Hall of the Korean Mission to the UN across from the UN Headquarters. These lighting fixtures signify the wish that Korea might in some way light the way to humankind’s everlasting peace and happiness. Visitors will find it interesting to see how the country’s diverse traditional patterns and techniques of making hanji have been used in the interior design of the building.
- Hanji interiors have a few definite merits. Made purely of mulberry yarns, they offer excellent durability and ventilation, in addition to being very lightweight. Those made in the shape of tiles help to create a unique spatial atmosphere. Hanji is highly functional, and as such is used to repel insects and bacteria, eliminate odors, adjust humidity and absorb noise. Furthermore, it is known to create long-wave infrared rays that are good for the human body. In short, hanji is good for the health and environmentally-friendly.
- Curriculum vitae [ Cha Jong-sun ]
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- Representative, Jidam
- Professor at Yewon Arts University, Hanji Formative Arts Department
- Director, the Hanji Institute
- Chief, the Project Team for Training Skilled Craftsmen for Traditional Cultural Product Development
