Yeol, Selection of 2024 Artisan of the Year and Young Craftsman

[The Yeol Foundation, in partnership with Chanel for the third consecutive year, continues to lead efforts in promoting the value of traditional crafts through the 'Artisan of the Year, Young Craftsman of the Year' project]

The Yeol Foundation, dedicated to supporting Korean crafts, has partnered with Chanel for the third consecutive year to select ‘Blacksmith Jeong Hyeong-gu’ as the Artisan of the Year 2024 and ‘Glass Artist Park Ji-min’ as the Young Craftsperson of the Year.

The artisans’ project outcomes can be experienced at the Yeol X Chanel project exhibition titled “Hands Imbued with Temperature and Sound: A Journey through the Four Seasons (四季節),” held from August 22 to October 19. Designer Yang Tae-oh, the first Korean to be named one of the world’s top 100 designers by Architectural Digest (AD), will once again serve as the overall exhibition director and collaborate on the works this year. In this project, he focuses on the blacksmith’s hands that transform the rough material of iron into beautiful, everyday crafts. The exhibition presents modern everyday tools that reconstruct notions and prejudices about the physical properties of materials. It also reflects on the blacksmith’s repetitive and enduring labor, paralleling the continuous cycles of day and night and the seasons, proposing useful tools that enrich life within the cycle of the four seasons.

[Project Exhibition 'Hands Imbued with Temperature and Sound: An Invitation to the Four Seasons (Sagyijeol)' Featuring 'Star Designer' Yang Tae-oh as Chief Curator and Collaborator on the Works]

The Yeol Foundation is a non-profit organization that cherishes and loves our cultural heritage, aiming to properly reflect on the value of traditional crafts and create new traditions for the future. The Yeol X Chanel project is central to Yeol’s traditional craft support initiative, selecting ‘Ye’?connecting the past and present (Artisan of the Year chosen by Yeol)?and ‘Ol’?connecting the present and future (Young Craftsperson of the Year chosen by Yeol). This project encourages the future of crafts by providing support necessary for the sustainable planning, development, modeling, production, and distribution of traditional craftworks by the selected artisans and craftspersons.

Chanel, a company founded on exceptional craftsmanship and technical skill, shares a common vision with the Yeol Foundation, which honors the spirit of time-honored artisans and seeks to inherit and advance their techniques. In collaboration, they have formed a partnership since 2022 to serve as a beacon lighting the way for artisans, jointly supporting this project for the third year.

This year’s Artisan, Blacksmith Jeong Hyeong-gu, continues the legacy of blacksmithing by quietly hammering iron even as traditional forges disappear in modern times. Blacksmith craft involves processing iron, an indispensable material in human civilization, to create everyday items ranging from farming tools to door handles. After marriage, Jeong followed in the footsteps of his master-in-law who ran a forge, dedicating himself to continuous training and skill development. Following the Sungnyemun fire, he also took on traditional ironwork restoration and became a National Heritage Repair Technician (Ironwork). In this project, Jeong collaborates with designer Yang Tae-oh, who interprets traditional materials with a modern sensibility, presenting newly crafted everyday items suited to contemporary four-season lifestyles. In addition to the well-known gardening tools made by the blacksmith, the exhibition will offer opportunities to experience various iron-based items such as braziers, bookends, and plates.

The Young Craftsperson of the Year, glass artist Park Ji-min, burns and chars small leaves or paper fragments inside glass, firing new glass panels without artificial colors, using only ash and soot. Her work, which expands from abstract objects to highly functional everyday crafts, is gaining attention not only domestically but also internationally.

Kim Young-myung, director of the Yeol Foundation, which oversees the project, stated, “We are proud to be able to newly revive our disappearing forge culture through this project with Chanel,” adding, “We will nurture and protect Korean crafts so that traditional crafts, fading in the flow of time, harmonize well with the present and become new traditions for the future.”