People

Hanji is only made possible by the people who make, use, and support it. From farmers to monks, and unacknowledged women who bear the most tedious labor to equipment makers, these are the people that keep hanji alive today.

Articles by Aimee

Paper, Place & People

Becoming a Papermaker: Best Practices from Japan to the U.S.

Searching For Yupmuljil in the Korean Countryside

Articles About Aimee

The Advocate Lachlan Bennett, “Artist Aimee Lee teaches Korean papermaking as part of paper on skin”

The Korea Times 홍다은 “시카고서 한지의 ‘멋’ 소개“

The Post-Star Doug Gruse, “The Fiber of Korea: ‘Abundance’ explores hanji paper making”

Zachary Srnis, “Artist receives state award,” The Morning Journal, 11/1

KBS World Hanji Artist Aimee Lee

Paper Artist Aimee Lee

Aimee Lee: Korean Papermaking Journey

Cleveland Institute of Art Faculty Member Aimee Lee Named Fulbright Senior Scholar

Videos

Hanji formation comparisons: four papermakers

A comparative look at four different Korean papermakers, all using the traditional sheet formation style (webal tteugi): Jang Yong Hoon of Jang Ji Bang in Gapyeong, Shin Hyun Seh of Shin Hyun Seh Traditional Hanji in Uiryeong, Jang Eung Yeoll of Wonju Hanji in Wonju, and Jang Seong Woo of Jang Ji Bang in Gapyeong.

Shin Hyun Se makes hanji

A step-by-step documentation of how to make traditional Korean handmade paper (hanji), as filmed on a site visit in the southernmost mainland province of Korea.

Jang Yong-hun, National intangible property holder of hanji making

Jang Yong-hoon was appointed in 2010 as the national intangible cultural property holder of papermaking in Korea. He was the Gyeonggi-do provincial holder for many years prior to his national designation. The father of my teacher, Jang Seong-woo, at Jang Ji Bang, helped me “get” Korean sheet formation technique when I struggled at the vat. He has since passed away but will always be remembered as one of the last traditional hanji makers of the pre-internet age.

Podcasts

Covid Conversations Life in a Time of Corona podcast, episode 10

Covid Conversations Episode 10 features two artists who make and work with paper.
Aimee Lee is an artist and scholar who champions Korean papermaking in the English-speaking world and beyond. She is the author of the award-winning book, Hanji Unfurled, and built the first hanji studio in North America, located in Cleveland, Ohio, where she lives. She teaches, lectures, exhibits, and is collected internationally.

Photo Albums

Hanji screen making

An intangible heritage holder, Yoo Bae Geun is a hanji screen maker and experienced papermaker residing in Jeonju, a leading city in hanji production and history. He is one of two remaining screen makers in Korea today. March 2009.

Adding bamboo section

Washi classroom in Setagaya-ku

Yamazaki Elementary School, a public school in Setagaya-ku in Tokyo, has an amazing washi classroom that was started by Ayako Yoshizumi. She is semi-retired now, but ran the washi program for 26 years and has worked tirelessly to teach children and community members how to make and use washi. Nov 2014.

Cafeteria windows

Mungyeong Hanji 2014

A visit to Mungyeong Hanji in North Gyeongsang Province during the International Hanji Seminar. Mr. Kim and his father showed us their current paper mill as well as their old mill, now a museum, and the dak they had harvested and steamed outdoors. December 17, 2014.

www.문경한지.kr/

Mungyeong Hanji

Kadoide Washi 2014

A visit to Kadoide Washi in Niigata Prefecture, headed by Yasuo Kobayashi, a venerated papermaking elder who has trained and inspired countless papermakers around the world. This visit came on the heels of the annual kozo harvest and also coincided with a group of Israelis traveling with Izhar Neumann, another papermaker who kindly interpreted throughout. Nov 2014.

kadoidewashi.com/

Harvest work

Oguni Washi 2014

A visit with Hiroaki Imai, the head of Oguni Washi in Niigata Prefecture. He created an entire tour from Nagaoka City Hall, which uses Oguni Washi’s paper, to the Asahi sake brewery, which uses their paper for their bottle labels, to his kozo field, paper mill, and shop. Nov 2014.

Oguni Washi's kozo field

Jeju Island 2014

A visit to Jeju Island, mostly to visit master persimmon dyer Yang SoonJa, who owns and operates Mongsengee. She is an huge asset and treasure to this island and to Korea in general. Nov/Dec 2014.

mongsengee.co.kr/

Sunning dyed material

Richard & Ryoko in Tokyo

Two visits to Sind in Tokyo to see Richard Flavin (artist and papermaker) and Ryoko Haraguchi (textile designer). On the first visit, I also met Emiko Nakano, a weaver who makes shifu (paper cloth). Nov 2014.

members3.jcom.home.ne.jp/sind/index.html
emikonakano.com/

Richard's work

Morgan hanji making, May 2013

A week-long visit to the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland to make hanji and related goodies. April 29 – May 6, 2013. Photos of Aimee by Mason, all other images by Aimee.

Mason pulls hanji

Wonju Trip May 2009

Visiting Kang Sung-hee and Lee Eun-young, a couple that does jiseung (known formally as noyeokgae) and lacquering in Wonju, with my jiseung and dyeing teachers. May 21, 2009

Wonju Trip 5/21/09

Jang Ji Bang, a Korean papermill

Scenes from a January 2009 apprenticeship at a papermill in Gapyeong run by 3rd and 4th generation papermakers about an hour and a half north and east of Seoul.

I spent a month in the mountains, some of it bitter cold, working alongside a family devoted to hanji and all of its manifestations. They fed me three square meals six days a week and the air was fresh. Hard work + gorgeous paper + lovely coworkers = the best month I’ve had in recent memory.

To see a video on how hanji is made, click here.

The family

Temple visit in SE Korea

A weekend visit to Youngdam Sunim at her Buddhist temple, nestled in the mountains of southeastern Korea. She is an expert papermaker and has a beautiful paper gallery on site. October 2008.

Temple

Paper Road Exchange

The Silk Road Cultural Festival in Korea, which displays the cultures of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Zarif Muhtorov of Uzbekistan and maker of Samarkand paper, and Jang Yong Hoon, an intangible heritage practitioner and maker of hanji, presented a paper exchange at the National Palace Museum in Seoul. November 28, 2008.

International papermakers

Hanji in Uiryeong by Shin Hyun-se

A visit to a traditional Korean papermaker, Shin Hyun-se, in the southernmost province of mainland Korea. Bo Kyung Kim of
Fides International invited me to a video shoot of the process of making hanji. Few practitioners are left today, and this particular one supplies Fides with high quality conservation-grade paper.

Sheet formation