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Monday, January 18, 2010

Lee Rheeza, craftswoman & national treasure



a patchwork ramie Hanbok







unbleached ramie Hanbok



traditional bojagi, wrapping cloth


 
another bojagi (these two look like they were made of silk...i couldn't read the korean labels)







traditional 20th century loom -- even in the stores ~18 in. still seems to be the typical width of a bolt of cloth.



dyed ramie



an antique bojagi, "log cabin" style

Patchwork is another traditional craft in Korea and is typically used to make bojagi, a wrapping cloth used for wrapping gifts, groceries, your stuff, etc.  Lee Rheeza, the Korean equivalent of Oscar de La Renta, has been making Hanbok, the traditional Korean clothing for women, for over forty years and currently has a retrospective at the National Folk Museum of Korea.  In the last ten years, she started experimenting with making Hanbok out of patchwork, combining two great Korean craft traditions that go back over five hundred years.