| Bojagi' Tradition Reborn as 'Bobos' in US |
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Korean-American artist Patricia Lee is introducing the Korean traditional wrapping fabric ``bojagi,'' with a modern twist, to the U.S. market, through her Bobo Wrapping Scarf Company. / Courtesy of Patricia Lee | By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
It only takes one glance at the zebra prints, bright floral patterns and polka dot fabrics of Bobo Wrapping Scarf Company to know that these are not your grandmother's ``bojagi.''
The traditional Korean wrapping cloth has been updated with a fresh and funky twist for the American market, thanks to Korean-American artist Patricia Lee.
Lee came up with the idea of introducing bojagi as an eco-friendly alternative to gift wrapping paper in the U.S.
In a telephone interview with The Korea Times, Lee said she was disgusted with the amount of trash generated from gift wrapping and packaging during the Christmas holidays. According to the U.S. Clean Air Council, an additional 4 million tons of wrapping paper and shopping bags are generated during the holiday season.
``Even worse was the thought that so many other American families were going through the same mindless ritual we were and creating millions of tons of garbage! That's when I decided to try wrapping with bojagi for my family and friends, and never wrapped with paper again,'' she said.
Lee, who lives in Connecticut with her husband and two children, began learning how to sew and make her own bojagi. She started giving bojagi-wrapped gifts to her friends, and it proved to be an instant hit.
What started as a hobby for Lee eventually became a business. ``It really touched a nerve with people. Everyone wants to become more eco-friendly. People think I'm a genius for this, but I keep telling them, no, I didn't invent it,'' she laughed.
``It's a tradition that's been around for centuries in Korea. ... I remember when I was in college, I visited my aunt in Korea and she was using bojagi. I thought she was a genius, but she thought I was laughing at her because many people in Korea think it's very old-fashioned and only used by old people.''
But Lee saw bojagi's potential, especially in the U.S. where people are becoming more conscious about reducing their carbon footprint. To make it more appealing to the American consumer, she began calling it ``bobos,'' a catchy name that would be easy for people to remember.
Described as ``eco-luxe reusable wraps,'' the bobos are now available in luxurious Asian-inspired brocades, trendy animal prints, quirky stripes and floral patterns.
Lee uses fabrics purchased on the secondary market in New York City ― where designers' leftover materials are sold ― and then creates all the styles and color combinations of the doubled-sided wrapping scarves.
Lee, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, also published a book, ``The Wrapping Scarf Revolution,'' last September. The book, which details the history of the wrapping scarf and various wrapping styles, targets DIY enthusiasts who want to learn how to make their own wrapping scarves.
The Bobo Wrapping Scarf Company has only been around for two years, but it is slowly taking off. During the busy holiday season, Lee appeared on several TV shows, including the popular Good Morning America, to introduce this Korean tradition that combines style with functionality.
``It is definitely a challenge to try to convince Americans that they can actually tie the knots and I invest a lot of time communicating to people how simple it is to use wrapping scarves,'' she said.
The bobo wrapping scarves are available in 60 stores nationwide in the U.S., as well as in Japan and Canada. Prices range from $14 to $48, depending on the size and fabric.
Ironically, the bojagi tradition is not as popular in Korea as before. ``While we can treasure and cherish the ancient bojagi tradition, we must redesign and reinvent it for the modern world. ... I think people should take a look at the things that allowed Korea to so quickly become such an advanced country and take pride in things like the ingenious bojagi, which is so indicative of the Korean spirit to be resourceful and not waste,'' she said.
Lee, who moved to the U.S. when she was five, is happy to share this aspect of Korean culture with Americans.
``When I was young, there were no other Koreans at my school. No one knew where Korea was and (people) kept calling me Chinese or Japanese. There are so many uniquely wonderful things about Korean culture that are not widely known and I hope to share more of our culture with the global community,'' she said.
cathy@koreatimes.co.kr |
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Debbie Han Wins Top Asian Art Prize |
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Debbie Han's ``Seated Three Graces'' won the jury prize at the 2009 Sovereign Asian Art Prize in Hong Kong last January. / Courtesy of the artist |
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
The first thing that you notice about Korean-American artist Debbie Han is her hair: perfectly gelled to stick out in different directions, like a character from Dragon Ball.
``A lot of people ask me about my hair,'' Han admitted with a laugh during an interview with The Korea Times at her home in northern Seoul last week.
These days though, Han is attracting more attention for her art, after she won the jury prize at the 2009 Sovereign Asian Art Prize last January.
Han became the first artist representing Korea to receive the award, whose $25,000 prize is the largest in Asia, for the piece ``Seated Three Graces.'' Her work, which challenges the Western standard of beauty, features three nude Asian women with prototypical Western classical heads, seemingly chatting while squatting on the floor.
``This award to me really validates my decision, my vision and the crazy, creative journey I've been through to actualize these visions in the last six years in Korea,'' she said. ``My work really took off on a very different level after I moved back to Korea.''
The Korean-born Han migrated to the U.S. with her family when she was in elementary school. She majored in art at the University of California, Los Angeles and received a master's degree from Pratt Institute in New York.
As an artist working in Los Angeles, Han still felt a strong urge to return to her home country. So, in 2003, she came back to take part in an artist residency program.
``I had a vision, a strong desire to document what was happening in Korea and Asia at this moment, through my own eyes. I grew up in the U.S., and when I came to Korea, I wanted to get in touch with my heritage, and feel an Asian cultural identity. But what I saw was a strong Westernization in every level of society, arts and culture, not just in Korea but in Asia. I thought `Why is there such an obsession with keeping up with the Western trends?''' she said.
Her first solo show here was ``Idealistic Oddity'' in 2004 where she criticized the art education system in Korea, which required students to make exact copies of classical European figures, such as Venus de Milo, as part of their applications to universities. ``It's once again like worshipping and idealizing the Western standard of art, and passing it down as art,'' she said.
The longer she stayed in Korea, the more Han realized this obsession to conform to Western standards was becoming more widespread in society, like with the plastic surgery craze.
Through her works, Han continued to challenge people's perceptions of beauty and conformity to Western standards.
In the series ``Terms of Beauty,'' she created sculpture busts of Venus, a symbol of Western classical beauty, with altered facial features to have the stereotypical featrues such as slanted eyes, hooked noses and wide mouths.
Instead of marble, she used the ancient Korean ceramic tradition of celadon, which proved to be an arduous process. In three years, she tried to perfect the technique, making 173 casts but only seven survived.
It's the same kind of passion that Han feels when she's tackling the issues of beauty, identity and perception.
``For me, it has to be a journey to get to the essence of the meaning of life. Why are we the way we are and why do we think the way we do? Sometimes you have to deconstruct your own system of perception in order to understand the meaning of it all through your own eyes,'' she said.
Apart from challenging the Western standards of beauty, Han also sought to idealize Asian beauty in her ``Graces'' photograph series. It depicted nude Asian women, with every skin pore and hair on the body digitally removed to make it smooth like marble, and their heads replaced with goddess sculpture heads.
``I'm an Asian woman and I had to do that since no one was doing that. Everyone is pressuring Asian women to conform to the Western standards. Someone has to come and justify and validate the beauty and existence of Asian beauty as it is, not in a didactic way but in a way that can be revealing,'' the 41-year-old artist said.
However, Han is ending these series of sculptures and photographic works this year, and will start fresh with a new series in 2011, although she does not know what it will be yet.
Looking back on her six years in Korea, Han admitted she went through times where she felt like ``an idiot who couldn't give up her impossible visions.''
``I felt the last six years of my time in Korea has taught me to endure, stay with the vision and go through with it no matter what. It made me stronger and I became more mature as an artist, and I think that's the greatest thing I learned, and my work reflected that,'' she said.
cathy@koreatimes.co.kr |
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By Cathy Rose A. Garcia 
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