제 11 호 Prof. Chulan KwakDesigned Changdeokgung for the State Guest Protoco
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Prof. Chulan KwakDesigned Changdeokgung for the State Guest Protocol
By Sol-Hyang Park, Reporter
‘Changdeokgung Palace’ is the only one UNESCO World Heritage site among the five royal palaces of the Joseon Dynasty, the most ‘Korean’ palace representing Joseon. From the small food bowl to the back of the chairs, the large and small visual elements of this place are the manifestation of national branding and cultural pride. Also, the original shape of Changdeokgung is the best preserved among the five royal palaces of the Joseon Dynasty.
Background of the project
In September 2018, the welcoming ceremony for Indonesian foreign leaders was held at Changdeokgung Palace. It was the first time that we chose Changdeokgung as a welcoming place for state guests - we used to welcome them at the Blue House’s Grand Garden. It was a social event that the Indonesian president and his wife visited, and they had private talks with private sobans(Korean smallportablediningtable) over cushions at ChangdeokgungYeonghwadang. However, some of the foreign VIPs who were familiar with stand-up life had difficulty sitting down - so there has been the necessity of stand-up chairs.
Changdeokgung Palace Management Center suggested a project to Professor Kwak Chulan of the Department of Arts at Sangmyung University – the project of new furniture for state guests such as foreign leaders. They suggested a furniture project that is suitable for stand-up life with our own traditional culture, and Professor Kwakparticipated as a senior researcher for the project. What the Management Center emphasized was ; the design of Changdeokgung Palace, a shape that can embrace various body types, and supplementing the irregular smoothness of old wooden floors. For this project, he visited ChangdeokgungYeonghwadang, the venue for state protocol, to understand the site and conduct actual inspections. He reviewed related data and examined the design of the dragon statues in the palace hall. He established the design guide by putting the demands of the Changdeokgung Palace Management Center and the field trips together.
State Guest Protocol Project for Stand-up Life
Yeonghwadang was where Gwageo(the highest-level state examination to recruit ranking officials)was held, and where kings and servants held banquets and shot bows in the Joseon Dynasty. From Yeonghwadang, you can see a pond called Buyongji. Buyongji is a pond built based on the idea of the “Cheonwon jibang” which means the ancient oriental space view that "The sky is round and the ground is square." Reflecting this idea, ancestors built a round island in a square pond and planted large pine trees in it. It implies that if the pond is land, the island is the sky.
To reflect this characteristic, the Professor set the Cheonwon jibang idea as the basic concept of design. They placed four chairs to face the center, private tea tables on the right side of them, and a round table in the center. Therefore, it allows four people to sit around, so that no one would be excluded from the conversation during the state protocol.
The round table in the center was made of a disk with 12-legged plate legs and finished with Juchil(a traditional painting method that produces red color using a type of paint called “Ju”) and heukchil(a traditional painting method that produces black color putting iron oxide in the lacquer). They designed it in the form of “Duriban (a Korean traditional round dining table)”, reinterpreting the Korean Empire royal disk in a modern concise form. Along with this, they let the flower decorations not to block the view.
In the case of chairs, they applied a wide triangular board considering the various state guests' body types, and designed with three legs due to the irregular smoothness of the wooden floor. According to the Professor, with only four legs, there was a floating leg and the chair shook. However, with three legs, all the legs reached the ground. The backrest is fixed to increase the comfort of seating, and he said it is a good chair to maintain a proper upright posture rather than leaning very loosely. In addition, they chose a relatively low 350mm board for chairs not to block the view ofBuyongji. Thus, even if VIPs from foreign countries do not experience a sedentary culture, they would feel the sentiment of our ancestors leaning on the railing and enjoying the scenery.
In the case of the private tea table, it reflects the traditional soban (Korean smallportablediningtable) form and it was also designed with three legs to implement the smoothness of the floor. Moreover, to design each tea table for each of the guests implies the Korean culture of separate tables.
Designers, including the Professor, finally designed stand-up chairs(main, additional, for interpreter),personal tea tables and round tables for the project. The overall height of the furniture was set low not to undermine the traditional landscape appreciation culture. Above all, designers intended furniture that reflects traditional Korean culture and has a royal class, at the same time, not to directly reveal the royal family of Joseon.
The artists who participated in the design, production, and lacquer process of all furniture were mostly young artists who spent more time reinterpreting tradition in a modern way than working on tradition itself. The Professor said that the project was possible thanks to these artists’ perfection and expertise in traditional technology with a modern touch.
Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus, the furniture has never actually been used in state events. About this, the Professor said that although the project started with consideration for foreign guests who are not familiar with sedentary culture, it would be used for various events in Changdeokgung Palace besides state protocol. He also said that they newly designed additional chairs considering people gathering up to eight.
The project was introduced to Naver Design Press. Those who watched the project gave lots of favorable reviews like, "I've never seen a chair with three legs, the design that improved the shortcomings of sitting and captured our culture was impressive, I can feel the atmosphere of Changdeokgung by noble colors and sculptures," etc. Like Professor Kwak who successfully led the project, I hope that more Sangmyung people will show off their talents in a variety of ways so that we can see many of them in the media.
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