LEE GEON MAAN (영문)

[Heralds Economy] Consideration on Hangeul + Desig
[Hangeul Day] CEO LEE GEON MAAN, Who Agonizes over Hangeul + Design, says, “To Make Sejong the Great Proud …” [Herald Economy = Journalist Hyelim Park] “Unlike 14 years ago, when I first tried to apply Hangeul on accessories, I can easily find T-shirts with Hangeul on them on the streets. It proves that our culture is developing in to the mature stage now.” I met Geonman Lee (51), a CEO of ‘LEE GEON MAAN AnF,’ at his office in Seocho, Seoul, on the 7th. After years of agony over the ideal combination of Hangeul and design, he had a confidence in saying, “the higher the people’s interest in cultures gets, the more the people will pay attention to Hangeul.” The confidence of this designer, who has been designing bags and accessories with Hangeul from 2000, comes from a simple reason: he thinks that Hangeul is the most Korean element of our culture. Lee implied said, “Hangeul, the creation of Sejong the Great, is our unique means of communicating our thoughts,” implying that the more the public gets absorbed into the culture, the more the public will pay attention to Hangeul. Fashion designer LEE GEON MAAN implied that the more the design and the culture becomes important, the more the public will pay attention to Hangeul. He is posing for a picture in his office in Seocho, Seoul. Journalist Myeongseob Kim/msiron@heraldcorp.com In fact, this designer did not have this thought at the beginning. Over 10 years ago, when he stood on the stage of an auditorium of a university, he did not expect for the Hangeul, nor the design and culture, to be this important. He said, “Looking at one of my medicine major student transferring in to design major, I wondered if the proportion of ‘culture’ in our society was really growing.” He added, “Making a fashion brand by combining Hangeul and accessories was only an ‘experiment’ to find out the answer to my curiosity.” Yet, it was not easy to apply Hangeul on bags and accessories, because Hangeul, itself, was already a completed design. Lee explained, “A slight change in shape of Hangeul only makes it look similar to one another. Instead of simply developing and twisting it physically, I must think about the elements of Hangeul.” For example, unlike aligned letters like alphabets, Hangeul has 3 dimensional letters, in which the consonants and vowels are arranged together to form each letters. Thus, such 2 dimensional characteristics of Hangeul must be emphasized in the design. Another problem was that, since Hangeul is a language, it is perceived as words with meanings rather than as a design. Thus, Lee boldly separated the consonants and vowels to make them look like geometric shapes. He has been pouring so much efforts that he was promoted as an honorary ambassador for the ‘National Language Culture Enhancement Movement’ last year. Yet, Hangeul is still a mysterious region for him. He agonizes everyday over the ways to make Hangeul look familiar to the public. One of the fruits of his agony was the ‘Hangeul Bus.’ The designer presented a bus, wrapped with Hangeul, in celebration for the Hangeul Day. He not only aimed for letting people to understand that Hangeul is no longer boring and dull, but also wished to create a bust that symbolizes Korea. He spent 10 million won of his own money, with Jinwook Lim, the representative of DongahWoonsoo. This year, he presented the second bus at an event hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Culture Information Center and other relevant organizations. The wrapping bus he made this year is different from the last years in that it is collaborated with the character TAYO, which is loved by all children. He said, “The children who loves TAYO are at the ages to start learning Hangeul. I have planned this project, hoping that the children to pay more interest in Hangeul through TAYO bus.” He continued, “I would like to see many people taking pictures with Hangeul TAYO bus. I will continue to make Korean items that is wanted and loved by people around the world.” Reference: http://news.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=20141008000345&md=20141008145953_BK

[Heralds Economy] Consideration on Hangeul + Desig

[Hangeul Day] CEO LEE GEON MAAN, Who Agonizes over Hangeul + Design, says, “To Make Sejong the Great Proud …”

[Herald Economy = Journalist Hyelim Park] “Unlike 14 years ago, when I first tried to apply Hangeul on accessories, I can easily find T-shirts with Hangeul on them on the streets. It proves that our culture is developing in to the mature stage now.”

I met Geonman Lee (51), a CEO of ‘LEE GEON MAAN AnF,’ at his office in Seocho, Seoul, on the 7th. After years of agony over the ideal combination of Hangeul and design, he had a confidence in saying, “the higher the people’s interest in cultures gets, the more the people will pay attention to Hangeul.”

The confidence of this designer, who has been designing bags and accessories with Hangeul from 2000, comes from a simple reason: he thinks that Hangeul is the most Korean element of our culture. Lee implied said, “Hangeul, the creation of Sejong the Great, is our unique means of communicating our thoughts,” implying that the more the public gets absorbed into the culture, the more the public will pay attention to Hangeul.

Fashion designer LEE GEON MAAN implied that the more the design and the culture becomes important, the more the public will pay attention to Hangeul. He is posing for a picture in his office in Seocho, Seoul. Journalist Myeongseob Kim/msiron@heraldcorp.com

In fact, this designer did not have this thought at the beginning. Over 10 years ago, when he stood on the stage of an auditorium of a university, he did not expect for the Hangeul, nor the design and culture, to be this important.

He said, “Looking at one of my medicine major student transferring in to design major, I wondered if the proportion of ‘culture’ in our society was really growing.” He added, “Making a fashion brand by combining Hangeul and accessories was only an ‘experiment’ to find out the answer to my curiosity.”

Yet, it was not easy to apply Hangeul on bags and accessories, because Hangeul, itself, was already a completed design. Lee explained, “A slight change in shape of Hangeul only makes it look similar to one another. Instead of simply developing and twisting it physically, I must think about the elements of Hangeul.”

For example, unlike aligned letters like alphabets, Hangeul has 3 dimensional letters, in which the consonants and vowels are arranged together to form each letters. Thus, such 2 dimensional characteristics of Hangeul must be emphasized in the design.

Another problem was that, since Hangeul is a language, it is perceived as words with meanings rather than as a design. Thus, Lee boldly separated the consonants and vowels to make them look like geometric shapes.

He has been pouring so much efforts that he was promoted as an honorary ambassador for the ‘National Language Culture Enhancement Movement’ last year. Yet, Hangeul is still a mysterious region for him. He agonizes everyday over the ways to make Hangeul look familiar to the public.

One of the fruits of his agony was the ‘Hangeul Bus.’

The designer presented a bus, wrapped with Hangeul, in celebration for the Hangeul Day. He not only aimed for letting people to understand that Hangeul is no longer boring and dull, but also wished to create a bust that symbolizes Korea. He spent 10 million won of his own money, with Jinwook Lim, the representative of DongahWoonsoo. This year, he presented the second bus at an event hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Culture Information Center and other relevant organizations.

The wrapping bus he made this year is different from the last years in that it is collaborated with the character TAYO, which is loved by all children. He said, “The children who loves TAYO are at the ages to start learning Hangeul. I have planned this project, hoping that the children to pay more interest in Hangeul through TAYO bus.” He continued, “I would like to see many people taking pictures with Hangeul TAYO bus. I will continue to make Korean items that is wanted and loved by people around the world.”

Reference: http://news.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=20141008000345&md=20141008145953_BK

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