Countless stars glitter against deep darkness. The Milky Way and constellations spread out around the North Star. The background is a dark fabric, and the stars are rendered in gold leaf. The work recreates the Cheonsang Yeolcha Bunyajido, an astronomical chart from the Joseon Dynasty. It was made by Kim Ki-ho, the designated holder of the national intangible heritage craft of geumbakjang, or gold leaf work. The piece is on view along with about 20 other works at "Golden Stars, Meeting the Universe," a special exhibition running at Mugyewon, a traditional cultural space in Buam-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
Kim is also the head of Geumbagyeon, his studio and brand. His products can be bought on the Geumbagyeon website. In person, they are available at Incheon International Airport terminals and at the Korea Craft & Design Foundation (KCDF) gallery shop in Insa-dong, Seoul. At the KCDF shop, which this reporter visited recently, Geumbagyeon items carried price tags of 250,000 won for a traditional gold-leaf brush case with peony and lotus patterns and 180,000 won for a gold-leaf business card case with a lotus pattern. The prices are not low, but given that the pieces are gold leaf, they cannot simply be called expensive.
Meeting at the Geumbagyeon office in Gahoe-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 19th, Kim, 58, said his goal is "not to remain only as intangible cultural heritage, but to be valued like art and to be consumed by ordinary people." His own role, he added, is "to cherish and develop gold leaf as a traditional craft while also making it part of everyday life."
Gold leaf work involves hammering gold into sheets thinner than paper and applying them to fabric or objects to form letters and patterns. Kim carries on a tradition of nearly 200 years spanning five generations, beginning with his great-great-grandfather, who started gold leaf work while serving at the royal palace in the 1850s during the reign of King Cheoljong of the Joseon Dynasty. Once confined to royal court culture, gold leaf has since spread into civilian life. Through efforts to inherit and advance the gold leaf techniques of earlier generations, his late father, Kim Duk-hwan, was recognized in 2006 as the holder of the national intangible heritage of gold leaf work, and Kim himself became the holder in 2018.
He says he did not set out to take over the family business. Then as now, the life of a transmitter of national intangible heritage is not easy. Kim majored in mechanical engineering in college and, after graduating, joined Samsung Electronics, where he designed industrial robots. He was 30 when he left his corporate job and began learning gold leaf work in earnest.
"When my father's illness put the family business at risk of ending, I quit my job and took up gold leaf work full time," Kim said. The situation has improved since then. His son is now preparing to carry on the business. "Among Korea's traditional crafts, there probably aren't many cases passed down through generations like this," he said with a smile.
These days he is focused on making gold leaf more widely known. He is expanding exhibitions at home and abroad, including showing his work at "Korea on Stage in New York" in New York in February. The current Mugyewon exhibition in Buam-dong is part of that effort.
The future of intangible cultural heritage, including gold leaf, stands at a crossroads, he said. Such heritage cannot be preserved simply by producing valuable works of art, he argued. It must become cultural merchandise that ordinary people can use in daily life. That is why he exhibits works in spaces such as Mugyewon while also selling products online and at the KCDF shop.
"Because gold leaf is expensive by nature, purchasing support from companies or the government is needed," Kim said. "It can survive as a genuine traditional craft only when it moves beyond being preserved as intangible cultural heritage and is actively produced, bought and sold."