Han Du-heum, founder and CEO of Dongwon Textile, Korea’s final remaining saekdong weaving manufacturing facility, stands behind a textile-making machine at his manufacturing facility in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, Nov. 24. Korea Instances picture by Choi Gained-suk
GONGJU, South Chungcheong Province — On a crisp November morning at Dongwon Textile in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, six colours of polyester thread had been fed right into a warp curler below the steerage of founder and CEO Han Du-heum. Beside it, two weaving machines steadily reworked the strands into “saekdong,” a standard Korean striped material identified for its vibrant bands of coloration.
“I don’t run the [saekdong-weaving] machines day-after-day as a result of I don’t get sufficient orders nowadays. However I attempt to maintain the textiles prepared in order that each time a request is available in, we are able to ship them immediately,” Han advised The Korea Instances.
As soon as a standard sight throughout the nation, saekdong is now nearly fully gone from Korea’s textile factories. Dongwon Textile is the one remaining producer nonetheless weaving it within the conventional manner — a mission Han is set to keep up.
What’s saekdong?
Immediately recognizable by its bands of coloration, saekdong is a standard Korean sample with 5 to seven otherwise coloured repeating stripes. Historically produced from silk, it was typically utilized in kids’s clothes, ceremonial costume, bedding and different equipment.
Based on the Korea Saekdong Museum, early types emerged in the course of the Three Kingdoms interval (57 B.C.–668 A.D.) and the sample turned widespread in the course of the Joseon Dynasty (1392–1910).
On the coronary heart of saekdong’s iconic stripes is “obangsaek,” the normal five-color system rooted in Confucian cosmology, that includes blue, purple, yellow, white and black. Every coloration carries symbolic that means and collectively they embody concord and the interconnected cycles of nature.
Han Du-heum, proper, CEO of Dongwon Textile, watches his worker engaged on a warp curler making saekdong material in his manufacturing facility in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, Nov. 24. Korea Instances picture by Choi Gained-suk
“Saekdong accommodates a philosophy of coexistence and the cycle of creation and extinction inside yin-yang and the 5 components,” the museum official stated.
Historically, saekdong textile was labor-intensive and expensive to provide, sewn collectively piece by piece from completely different colours of dyed silk.
“Saekdong jeogori (higher clothes) remained unique to the kids of royal households, aristocrats and rich households,” a museum official defined.
With the rise of artificial fibers within the twentieth century, nevertheless, saekdong turned extra accessible and corporations like Dongwon Textile provided woven saekdong to makers of conventional clothes, bedding and souvenirs for many years.
A saekdong weaving machine at work at Dongwon Textile in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province. Korea Instances picture by Choi Gained-suk
From one among many to final standing
Dongwon Textile was born at a turning level. Born in Gongju in 1952, Han grew up close to textile workshops and spent his early profession working for a neighborhood manufacturing facility. After roughly 10 years, he left to start out his personal enterprise. When he based his firm in 1987, the saekdong business had already begun shrinking.
“My former firm requested me to provide saekdong after they determined to cease making it,” he recalled. “I began producing the textile for them. However finally, they even stopped promoting what I provided. So I started promoting it alone.”
Throughout the Seventies and 80s, saekdong loved a golden age in Korea. Newlyweds normally purchased conventional bedding units for his or her new house, typically utilizing saekdong blankets and pillows to represent prosperity and success. Demand for the normal striped material soared.
“Again then, brides would deliver saekdong bedding once they acquired married,” Han stated. “The enterprise was superb. At one level, Yugu-eup [in Gongju] had nearly 130 factories producing saekdong.”
However the growth didn’t final. As Western-style beds turned widespread within the Nineteen Nineties, brides not bought thick conventional blankets and pillows as a part of their wedding ceremony trousseau. Demand plummeted and a brand new competitor emerged: printed saekdong designs, as an alternative of the labor-intensive woven originals.
Immediately, the Yugu Textile Historical past Exhibition Corridor stands as a reminder of the city’s as soon as‑thriving textile business, particularly its manufacturing of saekdong. A diorama illustrating the saekdong‑making course of, together with different textile artifacts, gives guests a glimpse into the period when Gongju was a textile hub.
Though Han needed to diversify into different textiles to maintain the enterprise afloat, he by no means let saekdong go.
“I used to be tempted to drop it in the course of the arduous instances, however I couldn’t,” he stated. “I simply wished to carry onto it.”
Even now, regardless of decreased demand, the labor-intensive course of and a public that always can’t distinguish between printed and woven stripes, he believes the true factor nonetheless has an edge over its cheaper rivals.
“Printed saekdong is in every single place, however what I make has richer colours on each the back and front,” he stated.
Coloured threads utilized in saekdong material manufacture at Dongwon Textile in Gongju, South Chungcheon Province / Korea Instances picture by Choi Gained-suk
Dongwon Textile’s saekdong material options seven colours — white, blue, pink, yellow, purple, inexperienced and purple. Korea Instances picture by Choi Gained-suk
Craft rediscovered
Immediately, Dongwon Textile sells saekdong primarily to wholesalers throughout the nation who provide hanbok makers, accent retailers and craftspeople. Orders might have declined, however the curiosity, Han believes, is rising once more.
Han has just lately appeared on a number of TV packages, drawing consideration to his manufacturing facility and his decades-old craft.
“Immediately, individuals appear to be extra interested by saekdong,” he stated. “Possibly that’s why they contacted me for filming. I’m hopeful that it’s going to deliver again a few of the demand.”
This renewed curiosity suits right into a broader revival of curiosity in Korean tradition and heritage each at house and overseas. Conventional patterns together with saekdong are experiencing new life, not solely via hanbok and home goods, however in world style. In 2021, Italian luxurious model Gucci launched clothes and accessories impressed by saekdong’s distinctive patterns and colours— an indication that the motif has world attraction.
Dongwon Textile CEO Han Du-heum stands in entrance of his manufacturing facility, the final remaining saekdong producer in Korea, in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, Nov. 24. Korea Instances picture by Choi Gained-suk
In a world that always favors comfort and pace, Han’s dedication to his craft is a reminder of the persistence, care and artistry embedded in each stripe.
At 73, Han reveals no signal of stepping away from the weaving machine. His purpose now’s making certain continuity.
“My older son is studying how one can weave saekdong,” he stated. “I’ve been passing down my data to him and my daughter-in-law. They may maintain it going after I’m not right here.”
