“Jogakbo ; The Handicraft of Harmony” exhibition in Thailand

The Korean Cultural Center in Thailand and the Ssamzisarang Korean Boudoir Craft Academy collaboratively hosted the “Jogakbo: The Handicraft of Harmony” exhibition from March 15 to May 11, 2018, in celebration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Bangkok and Seoul.
The traditional Korean quilting exhibit features almost 80 pieces of jogakbo cloth work from more than 60 Korean artists, including works of jogakbo that were inspired by the national flags of the two countries, a first for this exhibition. The exhibit was open to the public and there was no admission fee.




A jogakbo is a patchwork square of quilted fabric traditionally used to create domestic wrapping cloths from scraps of leftover fabric. Upper-class Joseon women did a lot of sewing and embroidery, making a lot of traditional Korean Hanbok clothes as well as wrapping cloths for the whole household, beddings and other such accessories. The leftover fabric would be used to create jogakbo by sewing those scraps together into larger squares. It's fairly similar to quilting in the West. Each craft represents beauty and creativity. In the past, these patchworks were used daily and as household decorations. Nowadays, the use of a jogakbo is well-known and they're used as daily life accessories, such as bags, pouches, bookmarks or even to wrap gifts, especially for wedding ceremonies.






Also as part of the exhibit, there were two traditional Korean knotting workshops for people who were interested in learning about Korean handicrafts, where students learned about the dagibo and dorae maedeup knots. A dagibo is a traditional Korean lotus-shaped bag that's made by sewing together scraps of old cloth. The other class focused on making dorae maedeup. In Joseon, a maedeup was widely used for day-to-day objects, including flags, clothing accessories, wall paintings, instruments and home decorations. The shapes of the knots come from nature, such as dragonflies, butterflies, lotuses or chrysanthemums. A dorae knot is a basic and simple knot for beginners. One exercise is to make a knot that mimics a 3-month-old's baby’s head. Mothers do this by turning the baby’s head to the left and right. This is why they called the knot a dorae knot.






The co-host, the Ssamzisarang Korean Boudoir Craft Academy, was founded in 2002. The academy has held several of art exhibitions in many countries. There was a jogakbo exhibition at the Korean film festival in Toronto in 2012, and the East Culture Festival in Milan and Florence in 2013. The academy got a traditional craft award at the fifth Korean Wave Awards in 2015 for disseminating Korean crafts to non-Korean countries. They also teach jogakbo quilting, traditional knots, embroidery and natural dyeing processes.




Don’t miss the chance to explore and learn more about jogakbo and traditional crafts if the exhibit visits your country.