Mother-of-pearl master craftsman adds modern twist

Mother-of-pearl craftsperson Lee Young-ok poses in front of her mother-of-pearl partition featuring cranes at her studio in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Lee Young-ok pursues innovation in traditional craft

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Lee Young-ok has been fascinated by the iridescent beauty of mother-of-pearl ever since she was young. Now a traditional mother-of-pearl master craftsperson and CEO of Jinjooshell, she dedicated her life to the mother-of-pearl craft in her family's business.

"My father and mother both worked in the mother-of-pearl industry. My maternal uncles still process shells for mother-of-pearl the southern port city of Busan," Lee said in an interview with The Korea Times at her studio in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday.

As her family also processed abalone shells for mother-of-pearl, Lee marveled at the lustrous glow of their nacre since her youth.

"Among six siblings, I was the only one who helped my parents working with mother-of-pearl. Back then, it was strenuous to repeat sandpapering and varnishing with lacquer, but I was fascinated by the shimmer and happy to touch those beautiful shells every day," Lee said.

Lee also married a mother-of-pearl craftsperson in spite of her parents' opposition as they knew well about the declining mother-of-pearl industry. When her husband died in a car accident, Lee decided to take over the craft business and now her two children have joined the company, breathing freshness into the business.

"If you are going to stick to tradition, I think you shouldn't pass it on to your children. It would be too arduous," she said.

Detail of a mother-of-pearl craftwork by Lee Young-ok / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Lee said Koreans appreciate the beauty and value of mother-of-pearl less these days because they are too familiar with it.

"My heart sinks when people tell me about throwing away old mother-of-pearl furniture their grandmothers and great-grandmothers used, because I know how much effort, skill and time went into creating them even thought I didn't make the exact one," Lee said. "Recently, people have been slowly rediscovering the charm of mother-of-pearl and some designers are recycling nacre wardrobe doors into tables and other furniture. I am excited to see mother-of-pearl lacquerware getting a new life in tune with the times."

Lee is proud of the beauty of mother-of-pearl craftwork, which is labor-intensive and time-consuming.

"This should be one of the representative traditional craftworks of Korea as it takes a lot of work from processing the shells to final lacquering," she said. "Since traditional mother-of-pearl evanesces from our daily life, people do not appreciate the beauty of it. I try to resuscitate it."

The 62-year-old held an iridescent piece of mother-of-pearl shell layer and explained its fundamentals.

"This is basically the same material as pearl. Mother-of-pearl is formed on the inner linings of a shell, while a pearl is formed around an intruder. Mother-of-pearl, or nacre, is the design a shell bears on its body and it has infinite possibilities."

As her knowledgeability with the industry goes back to a young age, Lee knows she has to blaze a trail to survive.

"That is why I invented coloring mother-of-pearl. At first, other craftsmen disapproved, being sarcastic about adding colors onto originally gorgeous natural mother-of-pearl," Lee said. "However, this technique won an award at the International Women's Invention Exposition and opened a new market for us."

Mother-of-pearl mobile phone cases using Jinjooshell's patented coloring technique / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Traditionally, mother-of-pearl is carved for craft, but Lee's Jinjooshell adds color to mother-of-pearl for visual effect similar to cutting with a lower cost. Lee's designer daughter, who also grew up inlaying mother-of-pearl with her parents, helped her with technical parts.

"With the coloring technique, we were able to produce small goods such as hand mirrors and card cases adorned with mother-of-pearl," Lee said.

She broadened the horizons of mother-of-pearl use and collaborated with architects and designers to use it on the outer wall of a building to create an art wall in the living room.

Jinjooshell holds several patents on various uses for mother-of-pearl and the most recent one is using leftover, low-grade shells to add a soft shimmer to construction materials.

"This is an idea to recycle remaining shells after the A-class ones are taken for mother-of-pearl craft. As I've been developing new techniques for over a decade, my head is full of ideas. I think about how to make mother-of-pearl shine even brighter all the time except for sleeping," she said.

Lee is a great entrepreneur as well as a master craftsperson.

"If I make a set of wardrobe and stationery chest inlaid with mother-of-pearl alone, I would barely produce a set a year. Currently, I team up with other master technicians ― I make the design and cut and inlay mother-of-pearl and lacquer experts finish the furniture," she said. "In this way, I have a sustainable business and can continue to develop new techniques and products."

Lee Young-ok holds a cut piece of mother-of-pearl during her craft process. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Jinjooshell is also open to collaborations with other companies. One of Lee's biggest hits was a mother-of-pearl credit card.

"We made millions of nacre credit cards for 13 years. It is now on a decline as mobile payments became popular, but we still receive inquiries for luxury membership cards or business cards," Lee said.

Lee's mother-of-pearl handicraft and furniture were featured in many films and television dramas including "Assassination" (2015), "The Princess and the Matchmaker" (2018), "100 Days My Prince" (2018) and "SKY Castle" (2018).

"One of the mother-of-pearl screens featured on SKY Castle was sold after airing. I am grateful when people become interested in our lacquerware inlaid with mother-of-pearl through media exposure," Lee said.

To reach a wider range of audiences, Lee opened a showroom in Bukchon Hanok Village in central Seoul, which attracts foreign visitors as well as local tourists. At the Bukchon showroom, visitors can have a look at elaborate mother-of-pearl craftworks and make their own nacre objects in hands-on workshops.

"At first, we leased a space in the tourist district of Insa-dong, but soon moved to quieter Bukchon. Instead of cramming products to sell in the show window, we took a more artistic approach treating each piece as a work of art," Lee said. "Many foreign visitors to our showroom are mesmerized by the beauty of Korean mother-of-pearl lacquerware."

A mother-of-pearl console table designed and crafted by Lee Young-ok / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

She understands the difficulty of passing down such labor-intensive work to the next generation.

"Among the mother-of-pearl artisans, I am one of the youngest even though I'm in my 60s. There are young students who are talented, but it is hard to tell them to go on if you cannot make a living with this. Traditional crafts like this need more support from the government," Lee said.

"We need a new tradition. Today's novelty will be tomorrow's tradition. However, conservative Koreans are reluctant to accept new traditions. I thought outside the box and the new ideas helped Jinjooshell to differentiate itself. I hope my ideas and patents will help the mother-of-pearl industry to open up new opportunities."