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| Seo Soon-im, a sedge mat artisan, demonstrates mat weaving at the Hwamunseok Cultural Center on Ganghwa Island, west of Seoul. She was designated as a Korea Traditional Skills Transmitter by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea in 2009. / Korea Times photos by Choi Won-suk |
Artisan becomes Ganghwa's cultural pride
By Chung Ah-young
GANGHWA ISLAND — The landscape of Ganghwa Island, just west of Seoul, has changed from one filled with traditional houses that once vigorously produced sedge crafts to one filled with posh summer homes run by transplants from urban areas.
Despite this change, Seo Soon-im sticks to weaving traditional sedge mats or "hwamunseok," one of the island's indigenous products, in her rustic house nestled on a steep hill on the island.
The house and its surroundings smell strongly of sedge, courtesy of the piles of sedge inside and outside the house. Long horizontal looms occupy her small workroom, leaving insufficient space for others to sit down.
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She is working on a new mat, which has a pattern portraying a rural village, which is rapidly fading in recent times.
Born on Ganghwa Island in 1955, Seo raised two daughters, who are now married, while selling her sedge mats and other craftwork.
"Sedge crafts fed my family when we were very poor. This handicraft was the backbone industry of our regional economy, as the mats were popular as wedding gifts," Seo said in an interview with The Korea Times.
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Ganghwa Island is renowned for its handmade mats and other sedge craftwork, thanks to its abundant sedge cultivation and highly skilled weavers. Sedge also grow in other regions, but those on the island have a pure white luster. During the Goryeo Kingdom (936-1392) and the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), the island exported the craftwork to China, where they were very popular gifts.
Currently, just a handful of sedge weavers, including Seo, still pursue this craft in her hometown owing to the dwindling demand as more people now sit on couches than on floors. In the early 1980s, some 1,000 households wove mats, but this number has since fallen to a few hundred.
"In my childhood, every other house on the island used to produce sedge mats. Weaving sedge mats was a kind of collective activity among local residents. Villagers gathered in one another's house and wove mats," she said.
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It usually takes about a week for three people to weave a 210-centimeter-by-300-centimeter mat. Nowadays, however, Seo finishes a mat on her own, regardless of its size.
"This traditional culture is hardly seen in this area anymore. Many weavers don't want to keep their job because it is no longer lucrative," she said.
Seo said her family, like others on the island, has a long tradition of weaving sedge mats.
"I played with sedge stems instead of toys when I was a child," she said.
The artisan first sat down in front of a loom at 16 on a day when her mother went out. She said she made the mats to help her mother, who earned a living from the craft.
"In the past, my family members — my younger sisters and my mother — made the mats for a living, but they don't do it anymore. I am the only one who still carries on the family tradition," Seo said.
Her mother also once grew sedge, but as the demand for the crafts dwindled, she stopped some 10 years ago.
Sedge craft becomes her life
Seo moves her hands more than 600,000 times to complete a mat. Once she starts weaving, she stays in front of the loom for hours.
She has woven mats for more than 40 years, which is why her hands are scarred, callused and coarse.
"I have been doing this from my teenage years. My hands have been cut by a knife several times, but I cannot stop doing this. Weaving sedge mats gives me great satisfaction. It's wonderful to see simple sedge stems become a beautiful mat," she said.
Seo said weaving requires intense concentration. "I spent my youth weaving the mats. Weaving them is a battle with myself," she said.
She performs every step of making the mat, from obtaining high-quality sedge stems and drying them to dyeing and finally weaving them.
Sedge grow up to two meters high and have pliable, glossy stems. They are planted in spring along rice paddies and harvested in August. The stems are split, dried, cleaned, bleached and dyed.
The artisan said many people think the sedge mats are used mostly in summer, but the mats are useful in winter as well because they keep people who sit on them warm.
"They are sturdy and breathable and thus, keep people cool in summer. In winter, they fend off the cold. They are not comparable with plastic mats," she said.
Seo can create not only sedge mats but also other products, such as containers, baskets and seat mats. She mostly uses a loom, in addition to other tools, to make a mat. She crosses warp threads hung taut with weight stones called "godeuretdol" on a loom over a sedge strip. To make various patterns, she weaves dyed sedge strips into the original ones.
She can create small items such as hats and containers by combining the mat making and knitting methods.
"If you know the nature of sedge, you can understand their charm. They not only look good but are also very practical," she said.
Seo said one of the appeals of sedge crafts is their changing color over the time. A sedge mat, for example, has a subtle white and yellow hue that turns into dark brown the older it gets.
"The process is tough, but I have grown up with this craft and am now getting old with it. The craft has already become my life. What I need to do is pass on this traditional skill to young people," she said.
One of her masterpieces is a mat patterned with "Ilwoloakdo" or "The Sun, Moon and The Five Peaks." She won an award from the Cultural Heritage Administration in 2006 for the mat, which is now a work that represents Ganghwa Island.
She currently teaches visitors at the Hwamunseok Cultural Center and schools in the region.
Who is Seo Soon-im?
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Born on Ganghwa Island in 1955, Seo has woven sedge mats and made other craftwork for more than 40 years. She learned traditional sedge weaving skills from her mother and grandmother.
She has won more than 50 awards for creating "hwamunseok" or flower-patterned sedge mats. Her representative work is "Ilwoloakdo" or "The Sun, Moon and The Five Peaks." She won an award from the Cultural Heritage Administration in 2006 for this work.
She was designated as a Korea Traditional Skills Transmitter by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea in 2009.
She currently teaches students at the Hwamunseok Cultural Center and schools in the region.
What is 'hwamunseok'?
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"Hwamunseok" refers to flower-patterned mats woven with sedge growing on Ganghwa Island. The patterns are created by weaving sedge strips dyed in a variety of colors.
The island is renowned for its handmade mats, thanks to its abundant sedge cultivation and highly skilled weavers. Sedge also grow in other regions, but those on Ganghwa Island boast a pure white color.
Sedge mat weaving was the backbone industry of the island's economy, as the mats were popular wedding gifts.
