KOREA FOUNDATION

1. Please briefly introduce yourself.

I’m a designer and representative of the fashion brand Rieul. I think design entails viewing the world from my own point of view and expressing it in my own ways. That’s why I call myself a designer despite not having studied design as a major. I render my ideas not only through hanbok, the traditional Korean attire, but also through photographs and videos.

2. Your innovative hanbok-style suit design has drawn considerable attention. How did the idea first come about?

I spent my school days in Jeonju when the city’s Hanok Village of traditional Korean houses had been renewed and hanbok rental businesses popped up. When I asked tourists why they rented hanbok, many said that they wanted to wear them because the fabric was really beautiful. “Don’t you wear hanbok because you find it inconvenient?” some asked me. Until then, I had simply thought that traditional hanbok were too inconvenient for people in the 21st-century to wear. Then, I remembered that the modern Western suit design had barely changed since the 19th century. It inspired me to use fabric used for hanbok to create Western-style suits for rental, and so I went to Seoul’s Dongdaemun Market to find the right material. Carrying one of my own suits in my hand, I searched for tailors that could make the exact style of suit that I wanted, and three months later, I finally had a completed suit.

3. In 2016, your photo of a non-Korean person modelling your hanbok suit while holding a Joseon-era pipe and wearing a traditional Korean hat went viral.

After I produced suits with hanbok fabric, people advised me to publicize them by sharing photos and videos of them on social media. I simply followed this advice and earned 20,000 likes in a week. I used hanbok material to make suits and rider jackets, then completed looks with Korean accessories such as a gat (traditional Korean horsehair hat) or gombangdae (smoking pipe). I employed a non-Korean model to demonstrate that hanbok can suit a diverse range of people. The photo led to a marketing request from New Balance and we produced an ad with a similar concept using model Han Hyun-min. The marketing experience inspired me to open an advertising company that creates ads for several large firms today.

4. What do you think makes hanbok so beautiful and attractive?

As word about hanbok suits spread, people in the entertainment industry began to place orders. “Why do they come to me, a person who hasn’t even majored in fashion?” I wondered and started to study hanbok more closely. The charm of traditional hanbok, to me, lies in its lines and fabric. The revised hanbok, dubbed saenghwal hanbok, or (literally) “daily life hanbok,” aims to preserve traditional hanbok lines. The jeogori (jacket) and chima (skirt) are usually made of cotton for comfortable, everyday wear. I make contemporary attires such as suits, jeans, tennis skirts, and rider jackets with traditional hanbok silk. While hanbok for daily life maintains and revives the line of the traditional attire, my work attempts to revive the material’s inherent style. Perhaps that’s why my works are referred to as hanbok of the 21st century. I want my hanbok suits to be a sort of cornerstone in the expansion of the hanbok market—hence my decision to launch the fashion brand Rieul.

5. What does Rieul do and what does its name mean?

Rieul prioritizes the positive and effective promotion of Korea through hanbok and hangeul, the Korean alphabet, over profit seeking. Considering its mission, I wanted a name that carried inherently Korean characteristics. Anyone fairly versed in the Korean language understands the importance of Hunminjeongeum—the original name given to the writing system created by King Sejong and his scholars, known as hangeul today—but they usually fail to recognize “ㄱ, ㄴ, ㄷ, ㄹ” as consonants in said system. Due to Arabic numerals being so universal, if I show the character “ㄹ” to someone unfamiliar with Korean, they usually understand it as the number “2.” I then tell them that “ㄹ” is a letter from Hunminjeongeum which naturally leads to discussions around hangeul and hanbok. I think anyone who wishes to talk about hangeul and hanbok is a national representative promoting Korea, and contributes to the butterfly effect of worldwide Korean culture dissemination.

6. You’ve collaborated with BTS, Pepsi, New Balance, and Adidas. Is there a particularly memorable collaboration?

That would be my recent collaboration with the globally renowned brand McLaren Automotive. When a designer and an automotive company work together on art cars, they often end up employing brilliant colors. I pondered long on the use of colors on the McLaren art cars and decided to express the four seasons of Korea in black and white, rendering its beautiful sceneries with the ink wash painting method. For the interior design, I drew inspiration from mother-of-pearl lacquerware and Goryeo celadon. I think it’s best to show Korean things and customs as they are. In so doing, I try to highlight Korean beauty by preserving tradition instead of distorting it.

7. From the global sensation BTS to Korean presidential candidates, many celebrities have worn your hanbok suits. You’ve also made hanbok suits for foreign ambassadors in Korea, haven’t you?

I receive orders from foreign embassies in Korea or from the friends and acquaintances of the ambassadors who need the suits as gifts. During the past 9 years, I’ve received inquiries from 50 embassies and delivered hanbok suits to 30 ambassadors. I’m still working on some of the suits for them. Some ambassadors contact me after having seen the suits worn by their fellow envoys at official functions.

8. Please tell us about your future plans and goals.

I plan to make Rieul a leading Korean fashion brand. To this end, we are currently collaborating with various other brands. In addition to hanbok suits, Rieul designs buildings with Daewoo E & C and sells Okjeongsu, the bottled water from the world’s only Korean white jade mine. I’ll continue my efforts to harmonize Korean food, clothes, and housing as I’ve done so far.