Muan, Home of Buncheong

By Shim Hyun-chul

Staff Reporter

For 36 years, artisan Kim Ok-soo has carried on his family's tradition of making ``buncheong" ware. The Kim family has been creating the pottery for four generations. As the only ceramics artisan in the southwestern Jeolla provinces, Kim said that the ware was important in past trade with China and Japan.

"I try to express beauty that closely resembles nature, through natural lines and designs in harmony with nature," he said.

Korea's ceramics have evolved to represent different eras. Various regional expressions and methods have risen and fallen with the passing of time. Through the process, Korean ceramics have evolved, capturing a unique quality of their own.

In that vein, the ``buncheong'' ware represents the earlier part of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). Buncheong ware is made by coating white earth over gray dirt, and then glossing it with enamel (a glassy varnish) before placing it in the kiln.

With the demise of the Goryeo Kingdom (10th to 14th century), state-control over pottery loosened, allowing Korea's ceramics to take off in wondrous displays of creativity. Kilns began migrating to coastal areas in the country and craftsmen created ceramics that befit the region. Singular design methods such as inlaying, brush-painting and using a red-hot iron began to emerge. Muan in South Jeolla Province became known for "Muan buncheong," carrying on the tradition as the hub for making pottery since the Three Kingdoms era (57 B.C. to 668 A.D.).

While other ceramics were created for a specific social class, the buncheong ware was made for the everyday man as well as for the elite class.

For that reason, buncheong ware is free with an energetic design and flowing patterns, not witnessed in the celadon porcelain and white celadon. Buncheong ware features boldly reconstructed designs.

With Kim, the tradition will remain intact ― at least, for now.