The 17th Jeonju Hanji Culture Festival

I was very excited, as always, to go to the Hanji Festival this year. I've been there three or four times since I arrived in Korea. Along with three of my great girlfriends, I took the 9am bus to Jeonju, in order to enjoy a full day of creation, inspiration and... paper!

I had read on several websites that the Festival this year -- on top of having changed its name from "Hanji Paper Festival" to "Hanji Culture Festival" -- had also changed its location. The festival was no longer held in the gorgeous Hanok Village, but rather next to the Hanji Industry Support Center, a very nice center (dedicated exclusively to my beloved paper) built a few years ago.

When we arrived at the Jeonju bus terminal, we hopped in a cab. I was unable to get the taxi driver to understand me (even if I was reading, syllable per syllable, the name of the place we were aiming for) so we ended up in the Hanok Village. A quick visit to my Hanji teacher's workshop and we were back on the right track! We took a nice 10-block stroll on a nice sunny Saturday morning, until we reached the Festival.

Two new locations for the 2013 Festival 

The new location of the Hanji Culture Festival, in Jeonju

We walked around the different sections of the festival : the information kiosk, outdoor stage, vendor booths, cultural booths (including a booth on Korean taekwondo, Hanji traditional clothing and the Chinese paper cutting art from the city of Soju), etc. There was also a bus stop to take us to Wanju-gun, the second area dedicated to the Festival. After asking to the welcome committee volunteers if a visit to Wanju-gun would be worth the while, we decided not to bother. Evidently we had to take a 30-minute bus ride to get to this second site, where the activities, attractions and booths were basically the same as the ones displayed in Jeonju.

Nice site, skimpy website
The volunteers who welcomed us at the entrance of the Festival were very kind, well informed and they spoke good English. They handed us the English version of the festival brochure, along with a map of the city. If the organization bothered to produce and print an English copy of their documents, why then isn't there an English version of the Festival website? A .pdf version of their English brochure available online would already be a nice start... Korea being one of the most wired and technologically inclined countries in the world, it still amazes me to see how skimpy the websites of major events can be, when they are not totally nonexistent for non-Korean speakers.

Paper snail carrying a city on its back.
Cool symbol of Jeonju "slow city"!

Hanji lanterns at the entrance
of the Festival site

Now, back to the Festival!
The new site was very nice; gorgeous paper lanterns were hung everywhere, as well as Hanji paper banners and flags. At the entrance of the Festival were hung dozens of beautiful white Hanji lanterns, and the Hanji paper snail, symbol of Jeonju "slow city," was there to welcome us as well.

This new location, between the Hanji Industry Support Center and the Jeonju Cultural Center, is an excellent choice. The site is vast and comfortable, less crowded than the Hanok Village and completely car-free, which is great. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the traditional vibe that offers the Hanok Village (with its beautiful houses, tea shops, tiny museums, fountains and sculptures) and it pulls the Festival away from the shop owners, artisans and artists that live and do business in the Hanok Village.

Meeting the Hanji people

Coasters, Picture Frames and
Small Notebooks
Created by Goun Korean Paper
Handicraft Goundanji

We visited the few booths that were displaying the work of Hanji creators, and chatted briefly with a few of them. I was surprised to see that there were very few products for sale (mainly plates, tissues cases, coasters, hair pins and a few lamps) and that there was actually only one Hanji paper vendor! The booths were pretty quiet, and the Hanji artists weren't very voluble about their creations. Where is the enthusiasm? the passion? the excitement?.... Is it because we were four foreign gals, who made them feel uneasy?

Hanji trays
Created by Koper

One of the reasons why I was so thrilled to go to the Festival this year was to meet "the Hanji people". Most of the time I do Hanji alone in my house, surrounded by mountains of paper and my three restless cats. Therefore, having the occasion to meet and discuss with other Hanji lovers was very appealing to me. Unfortunately, I have to admit that I wasn't able to make any real contact at the Festival.

Obviously, the first problem is always the language barrier; in Korea, it is constantly a problem. The presence of a "waygook-in" (외국인, Korean word that literally means "foreigner" and that is used to designated any non-Korean person) usually bring two types of opposite reactions: on one hand, Korean people will feel incredibly shy and will most likely walk away, hide or pretend they didn't see you; or, on the other hand, they will start to giggle (especially the younger ones), say "hello" way too many times and throw at you all the English sentences they have learned since Elementary school. As you can imagine, at the Hanji Festival we experienced both...

Hanji lamps
Created by Doctor Hanji

I was especially surprised to see the young artists at the Doctor Hanji booth waving at me like kindergartners and repeating "hello! hello!" in a high pitch voice when I tried to engage in a conversation with them about their Hanji handicrafts. What is this about? Isn't the Festival supposed to be the occasion to promote your art and skills? Isn't it a wonderful platform to network, meet new people who share your passion, spread the word about your handicraft work and possibly extend your business or creative spectrum?... It seems that the Hanji artisans had a different vision than mine... Honestly, despite the fact that Doctor Hanji had stunning Hanji lamps for sale in their booth, I had no desire to purchase anything, nor to ask questions or try to establish a contact with these fellow craftsmen. I just felt annoyed and walked away.

Book case with drawers
Created by Ye-Dam

Even if I wasn't able to get into real interactions with the Hanji creators, I was still very  impressed with their craftsmanship. I was especially amazed with the work of the "Ye-Dam" team: their booth was filled with gorgeous pieces such as chests of drawers, book cases, tables, tea trays and lamps. Truly stunning work!

In the end, there were about half a dozen booths that were displaying Hanji creations at the Festival, which is too few, in my opinion. Is Hanji a dying art? Where are all the creators? Is having a booth at the Festival too expensive, or not beneficial enough? Or were they all in their own shop in the Hanok Village, instead of being on site at the Festival? It is surely a fair question to ask.

I have to admit that I am tempted to give it a try next year. Imagine that: a Hanji Naty booth at the Festival! A "waygook-in" with a booth at a traditional crafts Festival in Korea.... It could create a very interesting buzz, but it could also scare people away and leave me bitterly disappointed.... What do you think? Is it worth a try?

Get your hands dirty

At the Festival, we decided to make
Hanji square lanterns

One of the most interesting aspects of the Hanji Culture Festival is the hands-on projects. This year, the visitors had the chance to create many different types of objects, such as lamps, lamp shades, pencil cases, hand mirrors, fans, piggy banks, tissue cases, dolls, etc.

The hands-on section of the Festival was very well organized. The visitors were invited to go to the ticket booth, where you could choose the object you wished to create, and pay accordingly (for example, making a square lantern cost 11,000 won). Afterwards you just go to the designated tent, and you will be guided through the process by kind and friendly Festival staff.

11,000 won to make a square
Hanji lantern

My three girlfriends and I decided to make some square Hanji lanterns. No need to say that the presence of four Western girls at a traditional Korean crafts Festival drew a lot of attention; dozens of pictures of us doing Hanji must be circulating these days! We smiled a lot, got our hands all gooey with glue and paper fibers... we had an awesome time!

Doing a hands-on project at a Festival like that is usually a very smooth process: all the pieces are already cut and prepared for you, and you are walked through the process step by step. For someone like me, who's been doing Hanji for a couple of years now, it can also be a little frustrating. I kept looking for my tools on the table, my awesome pair of Japanese tweezers, my spatula, my favorite brush. Also, there isn't much room for creativity and freedom: the pieces are already cut, the colors chosen, the designs expected. It's like giving a coloring book to a painter; it's still a lot of fun, but it feels constraining.

Dried flowers and leaves

Something especially interesting for me was the use of dried flowers and leaves; it's something I had seen done (usually on Hanji fans) but that I had never experienced. The delicate leaves and petals must be handled with much care; their colors and textures are truly wonderful.

Olivia, Lee, Mandy and myself,
after completion of our hands-on project 

Making the whole lantern, from start to finish, took about an hour. We had a very good time doing it, and we are all enjoying this new handmade addition to our home decors. Hanji has this magical way to diffuse a warm and soothing light; believe me, there's nothing like it!




In a following blog post, all about the Exhibit of the Hanji Craft National Contest Winners 2013!


Links to the Hanji creators websites and blogs (in Korean only) :
* Goun Korean Paper Handicraft
* Koper
* Ye-Dam Korean Paper Handicrafts (via Deokjin Self-Sufficiency Promotion Center)

My Love Story with Hanji

Korean Hanji paper
(c) visitkorea.or.kr

I've been living in South Korea for many years now. I have always been fascinated by the Korean traditional arts and crafts, especially embroidery and Hanji.

I live in Iksan, which is close to Jeonju, the Korean city for Hanji  That's in Jeonju that you will find the Hanji Museum, the Hanji center and that's where the Hanji Festival is held every May. Every time I would go to Jeonju I would spend lots of time in the tiny Hanji shops, literally drooling over the gorgeous plates, boxes and fans that the artisans would have for sale. I would constantly buy Hanji paper (the luxurious textures and colors and patterns were irresistible to me, and still are to this day), but would end up using it as wrapping paper, because I didn't know what else to do with this fantastic material. My friends back home were thrilled (they were sometimes more excited about the wrapping paper than the presents!...) but I felt that something was missing. I knew I had in my hands something extraordinary, but I didn't know what to do with it.

How old are you?

I asked a few Korean friends about 한지공예 (pronounced han-jee-gong-ye), trying to discover a place where I could learn the basics of this mysterious and fascinating craft. They all looked at me with that puzzled look on their faces: "well... there are workshops but they are for kids..." OK.... but how is that possible? The pieces I have seen in Jeonju (with the steep price tags attached to them) were surely not made by children; they were intricate, unbelievably detailed and obviously the result of dozens, if not hundred hours of work. Where could I learn? Who would teach me?

It took me more than four years to figure it out.

Blame it on the piggy

One of the piggies I made,
with the pages of old English textbooks. 

And it all started with an arts & craft project I planned for my students at the English Academy I used to work. I decided to make piggy banks with my students, using a traditional paper mâché technique. I looked it up, mixed water and flour to make some gooey glue and we managed to create some cute piggy banks using balloons, newspaper and egg cartons. The results were surprisingly nice! The kids were thrilled, and so was the teacher.

That was in April 2011.

Afterwards I started to experiment with Hanji paper, to make a more refined and cool looking piggy. The Hanji paper was surprisingly difficult to tear into strips (that paper is tough, trust me) but when I managed to get it right the long and fibrous strips of paper were absolutely gorgeous.
Even if I enjoyed working with Hanji for paper mâché projects, I still hadn't found at that point a place or a person who would teach me what I really wanted to learn: the art of cutting and gluing the paper onto objects, like boxes or chests.

이미경쌤: A meeting that would change my life

Hanok Village in Jeonju
(c) visitkorea.or.kr

A month later, in May 2010, my husband and I decided to go to Jeonju for a walk on a cloudy Saturday afternoon. We spent time in the Hanok village (하녹마을, gorgeous neighborhood filled with traditional houses, art workshops, ceramics and hanji shops, tea houses and tiny museums), walking around and getting inspired by the great artistry we would see in workshops, boutiques and cafes. We made a mandatory stop in my favorite leather artist and shoemaker, and then moved along down the street.

We walked into this Hanji shop, about a block away from the main drag. This shop looked different; half of the space was used by Hanji items for sale (intricate lamps, hand-painted fans, boxes, coasters, dolls and decorative objects) and the second half was filled with tables and plastic stools, piles of cardboard and craft materials like brushes, scraps of paper, cardboard forms, blank fans and masks, etc. Imagine that shop as the collision point between an Elementary school art classroom and a high-end Hanji boutique.

Then, this Korean lady, with the sunniest smile I had seen in a long time, walked towards me. I liked her instantly. We started to chat, trying to meet somewhere between her limited English and my broken Korean; I asked her questions about the glue she uses to make her Hanji items, about the paper, the cardboard frames, the lamps. She answers me patiently, showing me things around her shop. Then I dared to ask: "Would you teach me?..." and, just like that, the response I'd been waiting for came: "Yes, or course! What do you want to make?".

I was so excited I could barely answer. I wanted to say "Everything!! I want to learn to make every single item sold in this shop!!" but I didn't want to scare her away! So we agreed on a tissue case; "Come next Saturday and I will teach you". Wow! Was it that simple all along? Was she there the whole time, just waiting for me to walk into her shop?....

No need to tell you that the following Saturday I was there. Excited and ready. Nervous and enthusiastic. That's when the Hanji Naty adventure truly began.