Lee Jeong-eun, co-founder and CEO of the Korean luxury handicraft brand Cheyul, poses prior to an interview with The Korea Times at the brand's flagship store in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul, May 21. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk From Biden to Arnault, artisanal handicrafts become staple gifts for world's elite By Park Han-sol Lee Jeong-eun was in New York City when she saw the news footage of Sungnyemun engulfed in raging flames in 2008. The 600-year-old landmark, once the grand southern entrance to the city of Hanyang, now Seoul, had succumbed to arson overnight.
The shocking news from home struck Lee, then a 20-year-old on her first visit to the Big Apple, at a time when she was beginning to realize that Korean heritage had never found a place to shine within the U.S. metropolis' diverse cultural mosaic — whether in the world-class museums’ East Asian galleries or along iconic Fifth Avenue, lined with flagship stores of luxury design houses from around the world.
“In the popular global mindset, Korea was still viewed through the lens of its turbulent modern history of colonization and war. Its cultural legacy and the resplendent crafts that have shaped it for millennia — from ‘ottchil’ (lacquer art) to ‘chilbo’ (silver enameling) — struggled to find a spotlight,” she told The Korea Times during a recent interview. The callous attack on Sungnyemun served as an added reminder that even within Korea, such heritage remained overlooked and disconnected fro.