Former cram school teacher keeps legacy of Hagoromo chalk

Sejong Mall CEO Shin Hyeong-seok (unseen) demonstrates Hagoromo chalk during an interview with The Korea Times at the company's plant in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, June 24. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

By Nam Hyun-woo

POCHEON, Gyeonggi Province ― For many professors and teachers, especially teaching mathematics, there's a chalk brand which is at the top of the chalk world ― Hagoromo chalk.

Though it is priced three to four times higher than other chalk brands, renowned mathematicians at prestigious universities such as Columbia, Cornell and Stanford have described how softly the chalk flows on the board, how visible its colors are and how strong it is on their blogs or YouTube clips. Some professors proudly show how many boxes of Hagoromo chalk they kept in their "treasure boxes."

In Korea, famous history tutor Seol Min-suk and philosopher Kim Yong-ok, better known by his penname Do-ol, are fans of Hagoromo chalk, with a slew of other instructors describing the chalk, as the "Rolls Royce of chalk" or the "Michael Jordan of chalk."

In 2015, a tragedy was reported to them, as Hagoromo Stationary President Takayasu Watanabe decided to close the company in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.

Japanese and even Western media outlets spotlighted the closure of the company, which had made chalk for more than 80 years, describing it as "a tragedy for mathematics" and "chalk's defeat to whiteboards and computers."

Despite calls pouring in requesting that he continue the business, Watanabe cited his health conditions, faltering demand for chalk and, most importantly, he had no successor for the family business.

Upon phone calls, faxes and letters, what Watanabe decided was to hand over the brand to a Korean cram school teacher, Shin Hyeong-seok, who was also a fan of the chalk and now CEO of Hagoromo maker Sejong Mall.

"When Watanabe was hesitating on handing over the brand to me, I told him we all know the demand for chalk will fade away, but the best product should last until the final moment," Shin said during an interview with The Korea Times at the brand's plant in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province.

"I am convinced that Hagoromo is the best chalk in the world. It should not be one of the first to disappear from the market."

Sejong Mall CEO Shin Hyeong-seok poses with Hagoromo chalk during an interview with The Korea Times at the company's plant in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, June 24. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

From podium to plant

Eleven years ago, Shin was one of the highly paid cram school "star math teachers" in Korea, building his reputation when the country's online video tuition business was booming.

During a field trip to Japan to learn about the country's cram school system, he found local teachers were using colorful and luminous chalks, and returned home with a few sticks.

After using those in his classes, students said it was easier to read equations from the back of the classroom. Shin also said he felt extraordinary smoothness in writing and less pain in his arms and shoulders even after hours of lectures.

"I wanted to use them and called a number of domestic chalk companies," Shin recalled. "They said they know about luminous chalks but they don't feel the necessity of making or importing them, asking why I need colors other than red, yellow, blue and white."

So he decided to import Hagoromo chalk to Korea. Since he had no clue other than the brand name on the coated outside layer of the chalk, he had to ask a friend in Japan to send a box of Hagoromo chalks. He found the phone number of Hagoromo Stationery on the back of the box and managed to meet Watanabe and his second daughter, who was fluent in Korean, in 2008.

"Watanabe had very positive ideas about Korea and the second daughter's assistance was very helpful," Shin said. "Though he worried about the market competitiveness due to the price, I was thinking of the importing as a second job at the time, so set up Sejong Mall without too much pressure."

Since 2009, Shin has been operating Sejong Mall, as the exclusive importer of Hagoromo chalks in Korea. In 2015, Shin received a call from Watanabe saying that his stomach cancer had returned and spread to other body parts.

Shin recalled that Watanabe said he's sorry because Sejong Mall, which was selling only Hagoromo products at the time, had to close. Watanabe gave Hagoromo's recipe and some of his chalk-making machines to other stationary companies, but was not satisfied with the quality.

"So I said I want to make the chalk myself, and of course Watanabe tried to stop me, saying manufacturing is much more difficult than it looks and that I'd regret it," Shin said. "Watanabe has three daughters, but none of them nor their husbands were willing to take over the business. The third son-in-law tried to run the plant for a month but gave up because of the hard work."

After convincing Watanabe that "the best chalk should not fade away first," Watanabe granted Shin permission to take over the brand, recipe and machines, saying "Koreans are good at globalizing products, so go on and make the chalk a globally beloved product."

Seen above is a chalk coating machine at the Sejong Mall plant in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, June 24. The machine was relocated from Hagoromo's initial plant in Nagoya, Japan. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

From early 2015, Shin began the process of transferring 16 40-feet containers full of machines from Nagoya to Pocheon.

Even though Watanabe handed over the machines almost for free ― he charged 1 million won ($864) for a chalk dough mixing machine worth 80 million won ― Shin said starting the business required him to put all of his savings into the project and take out significant amounts of loans. He said he spent at least 700 million won in initial investments.

"I tried to receive government subsidies for medium-sized and small manufacturers, but my request was denied because the subsidy rule does not recognize Sejong Mall as a manufacturer, since we started as an importer," Shin said. "I managed to get the loan only after showing a 30-minute NHK documentary on Hagoromo's transfer to people at local SME authorities."

After spending a full year on the transfer, Sejong Mall began to produce Hagoromo chalk in Korea in 2016.

In the first year, the company's sales stood at 300 million won and grew quickly to 600 million won in 2017 and 900 million last year. Of them, overseas sales showed a sharper growth from 50 million won in 2016 to 100 million won in 2017 and 300 million won last year.

"Two months ago, I got a call from Watanabe saying his days are numbered," Shin said. "Even though his health condition was quickly deteriorating, he told me to ask anything I don't know about making Hagoromo chalks. And I believe my job is continuing the brand's legacy."

Hagoromo Fulltouch Luminous Chalk. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Strong but soft

Hagoromo chalk is expensive. A box of 72 white chalk sticks is 10,000 won and the same box of 72 luminous color sticks is priced at 38,000 won.

In comparison with other chalks, Hagoromo chalks excel in smooth flow, and produced more vivid and bold lines under the same writing pressure. Also, they caused less scratching noise.

Though Shin was open about each stage of the process of making Hagoromo chalk, which includes resting and eight hours of baking and coating, he did not disclose the ingredients of Hagoromo, saying it has six or seven more ingredients than other chalk brands.

"It is like baking china," he said. "Since it requires more ingredients and additional efforts the prices are high. However, Hagoromo chalks are stronger than others, thus customers use fewer chalk sticks in the same period of time. This is more economical."

Shin added that not only Hagoromo but also the chalk from other brands are made of calcium carbonate these days. The dust is heavy and mostly falls to the ground before people have a chance to inhale it. However, conventional health concerns about chalk are bringing about the chalk industry's downfall.

"Chalkboards are more visible than whiteboards because the latter reflects light so strongly," he said. "Also, marker pens contain more harmful substances than chalk. Though the chalk industry's downfall is undeniable, I do believe in the strength of chalk."

Sejong Mall CEO Shin Hyeong-seok inspects completed chalk at the company's plant in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, June 24. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk