Sooltong is the calligraphy studio there expert Kang Byung-in. If you have ever picked up bottle of Chamisul soju or Sansachun, you have already seen his calligraphy on the label. Why is calligraphy visible in so many parts of out culture? What is calligraphy?

 

 

★ Putting his Pen to Paper
    When I was an elementary school student, I was worried about studying calligraphy or taking art class. At that time, the calligraphy class teacher worked to collect the honey bee, he said "If you come to calligraphy class, you can eat plenty of honey!" It was difficult to eat a snack in the county at that time. I entered the calligraphy class because of the calligraphy class teacher's proposal. I did not know how good it is to write. It was fate. I felt happy while I was writing and holding a pen; I still continue spending time on my work. At that time, I decided I wanted to become a great calligrapher like Kim Jeong-hee. I thought I would never become like Kim Jeong-hee. He usually writes Chinese calligraphy, so I thought I could never surpass him. I just wanted to become famous for my Korea calligraphy.

★ Sensitivity in Writing
    Through the years, when I worked in design, I noticed that even though Korean has very beautifulletters, there were only standardized fonts. That was why I through of combining calligraphy and designed letters into more lyrical writing. Korean can be written more emotionally. These kinds of through created a new field of design, calligraphy design. When I was young, people never through of writing letters to make money. One day, I traveled to Japan; I saw lots of calligraphy signs there. So I started to figure out how to apply it to handwriting design in Korea.

★ What is Ideal calligraphy?

 
    Calligraphy is an integral part of typography. Typography has calligraphy, letters, and fonts. If a letter is functional, calligraphy can stimulate the senses as a means of emotional communication. Calligraphy literally means. "those who write letters that work beautifully." But it is not only making beautifully handwriting. Handwriting, which is writing by a calligrapher, has to have readability because it should be read to an audience, the consumers or viewers. In addition, the representation of the text must match the object to create a font. Good handwriting has to include a variety of messages and stories. The writing can communicate with readers and persuade them based on the aesthetics that are used.

★ Hangul, the beautiful
    The word calligraphy is also English. In Hangul there is no enact word for calligraphy. I am really sad about that. The vowels of Hangul contain ideas which are 天(sky), 人(people), and 地(earth). Consonants have only basic shapes like horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines consisting of a circle. People may think Hangul is very simple, but it is not. It is only condensed into the easiest wat to write. I really love the beauty of Hangul. We can see the Great King Se-jong's love for his people through Hangul.

★ The Effort of calligraphy
    When I wrote the drama title of the Great King Sejong, I worried about how to reflect the love of

 
the Great King Sejong for people. It was very hard to do this and I felt so burdened by it. I worked very hard to show the Great King Sejong's image, which is soft but also tough. I was familiar with soju when I was writing Chamisul. As an actor needs empathy to act out emotions so also do I try to write something with empathy. Calligraphy is mainly used for advertising, so I try to understand the concept of products. I usually try to contain many things like harmony between people and nature, emotions, and even our lives with many thoughts and meditations. Every moment is filled with painstaking care when I write a word. Until a word comes out to the world, I write it ten times, twenty times and then a hundred times, but I cannot tell you how worthwhile it is when the result is shown to the world.

 

★ Who Wants to Become like the Wind
    Personally, I like words like "spring" and "wind." Spring is the period of new lives. Wind, we say wind helps bring plants into blossom. The wind is invisible, but it is important in the world. I also want to be like the wind. I am going to make an effort to show Hangul on the street, in restaurants and everywhere. My final goal is to leave a Hangul-masterpiece legacy like Kim Jung-hee. What I want to do is to work on the penmanship of Hangul and make it equal to the penmanship of Chinese in terms of pure calligraphy. That is why I do my work under the pen name of young-muk, 永墨(literal translation in English; everlasting ink).

★ To Students who Dream of being a calligraphy
    Calligraphy in the future is going to be more important tin our lives. Attending a calligraphy

 
academy is very helpful to become a good calligrapher. Also you need a good understanding of design. You cannot make good calligraphy without having an understanding of design.

    It does nor matter when you are a pure calligrapher, but if you are a commercial calligrapher, it is hard to write good letters with only the knowledge of calligraphy. It is much easier to become a calligrapher when you know either calligraphy or design. The most important thing is that you should be a person who really likes what he/she does. It is true that people who do not like their jobs will not be successful at their jobs. I am very happy when I hold a writing brush.

 

By Cha Yoon-jae CP Reporter
yukixiah@cnu.ac.kr

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