Longing for a Korean Furniture?

If you are a fan of Korean old-fashioned furniture and would like to take it back home to your country, we recommend these 11 items

 

Historically, figuring in the inside of a Korean traditional house, aka a hanok, is a range of furniture which used to be in the rooms where Koreans insisted on sitting and lying down on the floor, inhabited by an (ordinary or affluent) man, his wife, their relatives and their offspring. In a normal hanok, these sitting-down furniture often encase the whole blankets, pillows, lots of clothes, personal belongings, money and books.

 

Their manufacturing process involves many techniques with joints, by using such material as wooden nails and wedges. Also there are animals, birds and flowers ornate on the finished product. The wood is prepared so as to fit to render rooms physically and mentally accessible. Lastly, the furniture’s surfaces are painted with vegetable oil or lacquer for protection.

 

Most of the antique ones were lost in the Korean war but some new ones have been created mostly as trousseau since then. Get in touch with shopping malls on the web for an affordably-priced creation, or with notable individual somokjang – carpenter - in work, to customize your selection (google “소목장 연락처” to find some of their contact information) To size them up and choose, ask the somokjangs or the web malls. Mind you, you can easily find enough use of things like the wardrobe and the four-level book shelf in a Western style room.

 

The photos are courtesy of both my own taken at National Folk Museum of Korea, and some blogs searched on NAVER. 

Here their usage is pointed out and their beauty spots highlighted.

 

 

 

Jang and Nong chests

The pinnacles are jang and nong. They usually encase clothing, but sometimes useful belongings are tucked deep inside them. Their beauty mainly lies in little joints like jangseok (ornament joint), hinges and pung-hyeol meaning decoration between the legs, which provide the real wow factor. The Korean furniture, especially jang and nong, is seldom without accentuated ornaments on them. With nong the similar-height parts can be moved in reversed order but a jang works as the whole thing. Besides, the facade designs for all the jang and nong show some kind of section proportion. Standing out among all varieties, the jagaejang features Mother-of-Pearls which are like gems all over on its pitch-black doors.

 

 

Bandaji

Bandaji is a closet whose rough translation is a “half-opener”, comprising two main opening sections. You could put in books, clothes, items, writing materials, letters, books, blankets, writing cases, paper cases, ritual utensils and on the top could be document boxes, porcelain, blankets and other articles. Bandaji is traditionally made from wood that possess elegant patterns that appear in cross section and adorned with metal jangseok that are sometimes big and made of iron, showing off its simple beauty.

 

 

 

Mungap

From the top of the horizontally long mungap, the porcelain and other stationery accessories are staying ready to pop up. The husband and wife can have separate mungaps and these included on and in them writing material, important documents, and other useful personal belongings. On the top you can also place document boxes, books, hat case, water dropper, mirrors and porcelain etc. Hint: in South Korea some people use their inherited mungap to put their TV on it.

 

Seo-an (low table 1)

The seo-an is a low table for reading books and writing on. You squat on the floor facing this “writing desk” with ornate drawers. The seo-an upholds the master’s position in relationship to those of the guests who come to sit with him and talk. The insights and tastes of the master were both to be reflected in his choice of seo-an. Beside the seo-an is a little table called yeonsang which contains writing kit. There are smaller seo-ans designed for the wife, too.

 

Soban (low table 2)

The soban has double roles as carrying tray and dinner table. Its top part is a bit broader than shoulder-length. You could spread some cushion on the floor, sit by the table and then eat and eat and eat from your own soban.

 

Wardrobe

In the wardrobe, you can put the longer or often-used skirts and durumagi (Korean overcoats) over a long rod which hangs high on the inside of jang, so that these clothes smooth out and don’t ever crease. Often made from paulownia, its look is tall and imposing. Sometimes on its front door silk garments and coloured paper are overlaid to create harmony.

 

Folding Screen

These tall folding screen have adorned rooms as windscreen that could hide someone or something, as well as for background of ancestral rites. Traditional and artistic, a lot of effort went into creating a beautiful, even luxurious screen that could fit into your regular room.

 

 

Book Shelf

These multi-level book shelves are absolutely useful. Traditionally, down there are placed diverse books and pretty massive stones, Looking out and just below the top would be little personal belongings, some simple books, water dropper or stationery cases. You could create a contemporary feel by installing these shelves in one or two corner of your house.

 

 

Pantry Cabinet

And there’s the smart pantry cabinet. Traditionally you store here heavy plates in brassware or ceramic and some culinary items, preventing mice and worms from getting at the food.

 

 

Book chest

Different types of book chests – The heavy ones may store most of the books the scholarly owner has got, but there also are smaller ones you need to have near you to read and re-read their books. The design is done so carefully that you can’t tell how many books there are inside from the outside.