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Explore Artisans Museums & Galleries Experience Itineraries About
©Jose Huedo
©Bertrand Panier
©Jose Huedo
©Bertrand Panier
©Song Yi Han

Song Yi Han

  • Bookbinder
  • Brussels, Belgium
  • Rising Star
Song Yi Han Bookbinder
Contact
French, Korean
Hours:
By appointment only
Phone:
+32 496703307
©Seulgi Lee

Bridge between two cultures

  • • Song Yi was born in South Korea
  • • She came to Brussels to study bookbinding
  • • She uses traditional Korean lacquering techniques

Everything started for Song Yi Han during a bookbinding workshop in her native city, the South Korean capital, Seoul. “The touch of paper gave me a great feeling. I realised that this was what I wanted to do in life.” The experience led her to Brussels, where she followed bookbinding studies. She then won a competition for art school graduates in Belgium, which helped her to set up a workshop with bookbinding machines: “Cast iron machines more than a century old, that I purchased from a bookbinder who was stopping his own activities.” Song Yi also looked for additional methods, which she found in her native country. She started to use traditional South Korean lacquering techniques. “This way, I created a bridge between my native and adopted culture.”

Read the full interview

Works

  • ©Song Yi Han
  • ©Song Yi Han
  • ©Song Yi Han
  • ©Song Yi Han
  • ©Song Yi Han
Photo: ©Song Yi Han
Le petit trou précédé de ses semblables

This is a book with a lacquered cover and edges. The spine has been rounded and hardened by successive layers of lacquer. The book records the drawings that transcribe the inside of the bowls that Song Yi Han makes. She draws the imprint left by the string that gives them their original shape.

Photo: ©Song Yi Han
Book-bowl-lacquer project, series4-bowl18

This is a bowl lacquered according to a traditional Korean technique. The string that gives it its shape has been left behind inside. The ball of string is covered with earth, which leaves an imprint inside the bowl if the string is removed.

Photo: ©Song Yi Han
Book-bowl-lacquer project, series2-bowl09

This is a bowl lacquered according to a traditional Korean technique. It is made from lacquered hemp fabric. With an inner imprint of earth, left behind by the ball of string that gave the bowl its shape.

Photo: ©Song Yi Han
Lacquered cardboard (samples)

These are variations of lacquer layers on different types of cardboard. These lacquered cardboard pieces are a sampling of Song Yi Han’s research for her book and lacquer association project.

Photo: ©Song Yi Han
Le petit trou précédé de ses semblables

The spine of this book has been rounded and hardened by successive layers of lacquer. It archives drawings that transcribe the interior of the bowls that Song Yi Han makes. She draws the imprint left by the string that gives them their original shape.

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