Dear Korea CQ members,

Hope you are having a wonderful day.

On November 6, 5 · 4 Club and Korea CQ members had the opportunity to visit the hanok ‘Jiwoohun’ at Bukchon, owned by Young Hye Lee, CEO of Designhouse and had a special lecture on hanbok by Young-jin Kim, CEO of Tchai Kim.

H.E. Yip Wei Kiat, H.E. Mozes Csoma, Sunmi Nam, Young Hye Lee, Young-jin Kim, Seung-whan Song, Kwon-ha Ryu, Dong Hoon Park, Jae Chul Sung, James Park, Young Joo Lee, Myung Hee Oh, Ian Jeong, Yun Jung Park, Haewon Park, Vivian Han, Eun Kyung Kim, Didier Beltoise, Jungwha Choi, Crystal Park attended this gathering.

Members who wanted to look around the beautiful renowned hanok 'Jiwoohun' of Young Hye Lee arrived early and had the time to greet each other while enjoying delicious cheese and olives prepared by Young Hye Lee, and also the '100 Billion Lactobacillus Makgeolli', a traditional Korean rice wine of Kooksoondang.

Young Hye Lee explained the structure, design, and various works in Jiwoohun in detail. Jiwoohun was selected by the Seoul Metropolitan Government as an ‘Excellent Hanok in Seoul’ designed by Young Hye Lee. Members admired the hanok and all the furniture and decorations that were designed by Korean designers.

After touring around the hanok, members enjoyed delicious Korean dosirak with Korean traditional liquor and special dessert prepared by Young Hye Lee.

Prior to the lecture, members watched and listened to Andrea Bocelli’s “Romanza” which was played in the room, equipped with special audio and screen equipment on the specially designed wall.

Following the video, the lecture on Hanbok by Young-jin Kim, CEO of Tchai Kim, started.

Young-jin Kim established ‘Tchai Kim’ on 2004 showing various styles of hanbok and launched Tchai Kim ready-made clothes brand in 2013, through which she introduces the mix of traditional and modern fashion that are comfortable. She was the team leader of Louis Vuitton RTW, designed costumes for the Victoria Albert Museum Exhibition in the UK, participated in the ‘Paris, the Temptation of Daily Life’ exhibition at Seoul Arts Center and hanbok fashion show on ‘National Korea Day’ at the Milan Expo 2015, designed hanbok in movie ‘Love, Lies’, and more recently, designed costumes of Tae-Ri Kim in the widely popular drama <Mr. Sunshine>.

Through this lecture, we had the chance to hear about the hanbok design that were made by various professionals and philosophies behind hanbok and the designs by Young-jin Kim

After the lecture, a heated discussion on revising the free admission to palaces for people wearing hanbok and on the identity of traditional hanbok were held.

All members presented their opinions and experiences on the topic. As there were many experts from different cultural areas, it was a fruitful discussion.

Before wrapping up the event, Young Hye Lee gave all members copies of Desginhouse's magazines 'Design' and 'Home Style & Living,'  and Young-jin Kim gifted everyone the 'Tchai Kim Paper Doll Book' which contains drawings of the clothes of Tchai Kim. 

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Young Hye Lee, CEO of Design House, for kindly inviting and making a memorable experience for all our members, Young-jin Kim, CEO of Tchai Kim, for giving us an interesting lecture, Crystal Park for the help with interpretation, and last but not least, all our members for gladly taking time from their schedule to attend the gathering and provide meaningful opinions for discussion.

Please check the lecture note below on Young-jin Kim’s lecture for further details.

Thank you all again for your unwavering support.

Sincerely,

Korea CQ MeeJung Kim

For more pictures, please click the link below.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uk5ftftWoYb2JhP49

<November 6 Lecture note>

‘Tchai 差異’ in Korean means ‘difference’. The brands Tchai and Tchai Kim are created with the philosophy that the difference in sensibility makes the difference in clothes. They embody the wish for a life of coexistence and acknowledgement of each other’s differences.

Tchai Kim Young-Jin is a traditional Korean hanbok brand which customizes each and every piece of the hanbok, from the inner layer pants and skirts to the outer garments, to fit the individual wearer. Tchai gets its inspiration from the beautiful proportions and the tapered sleeves and balloon line skirt of Miindo (Portrait of a Beauty) by the famous 18th century Korean painter Shin Yun-Bok. While referring to historical archives including garments unearthed from ancient tombs, Tchai utilizes traditional mosi (ramie) and silk from the region of Sangju with a wide and unexpected range of luxurious fabrics such as French lace to create one-of-a-kind pieces that emanate the discreet beauty of the Korean hanbok.

Designer Kim Young-jin created the ready to wear brand ‘Tchai Kim’ with a free-spirited and nomadic sensibility that takes its inspiration from Namsadangpae, a traveling troupe of performers of the olden days. With a respectful nod to the past where our female ancestors rode horses and performed sword dances, Tchai Kim reinterprets the traditional hanbok for comfortable and practical clothes that can be worn in everyday life, such as her representative cheolik dress, the dapho coat, daegeumhyung jacket, the jeogori jacket of the Kim family of the Yeonan region, the jeogori jacket of the Kim family of the Suncheon region and the baenet jeogori inspired by the traditional bow-less jacket for newborns.

Designers are obliged to 'present' the new and better creations they have designed. Hanbok is fashion. Clinging on 'traditional' or 'old' is to deceive oneself. Yangban, the Korean aristocrats, made their clothes with silk from the Ming and the Qing Dynasty. It is not right to insist that our tradition is from just one period in history. The world has been interacting and exchanging with each other since very long ago, and hanbok has been changing with the advent of new cultures. Rooted in history, Tchai Kim offers styles that are beautiful, contemporary and global. Its clothes embody the line and emotions of Korean hanbok. At the same time, Tchai Kim goes beyond the boundaries of traditional design to create clothes that blend in naturally with modern ready-to-wear.