A tactile survey of Korean craft and design: 175 full-page objects across ceramics, lacquer, textiles, and furniture, from folk traditions to contemporary work.

Description

Jeong: The Spirit of Korean Craft and Design is a wide, carefully edited survey of Korean objects—175 in total—spanning folk craft and contemporary work. Ceramics, lacquerware, embroidery, furniture, textiles: the book treats them as a continuum, not as separate worlds. You’ll see traditional moon jars and woven baskets alongside newer pieces that push material and form without losing touch with how things are made.

The organizing idea is jeong—a Korean concept tied to affection, familiarity, and the bonds that form over time. Here it’s used in a practical way: as a lens on making and use, the relationship between maker, object, and the person who lives with it. The essays by Teo Yang, Beth McKillop, and J. Kathryn Hong help set that context, but the book is primarily visual: full-page photographs that let surface, proportion, and detail do the talking.

Even the production feels considered. It’s printed on tactile craft paper and stitch-bound in a traditional Korean style, so the book reads as an object in its own right—something you’ll want to keep on the table and return to.

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