Sara Cook on the traditional Korean art of Bojagi at the Fashion and Textile Museum

22/08/2019 6:00 pm – 22/08/2019 8:00 pm | Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey St, Bermondsey, London SE1 3XF

Join leading expert Sara Cook on Thursday 22nd August at the Fashion and Textile Museum where she will be giving a talk on her new book Bojagi. Discover how the traditional textile art of Bojagi, Korean wrapping cloths inspired ten years of research into historic practitioners and artists today.There will be a glass of wine in the Museum foyer and opportunity to view the current exhibition at the beginning. The talk will be followed by some time to ask questions and a book signing,

Bojagi is a traditional Korean textile art technique. They were made for everyday living, often from scraps of leftover fabrics artfully put together, and resembling the colourful and luminous works of modern artists such as Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee. Until the 1950s they were used to wrap or cover everything from bedding and clothes to food dishes and for religious rituals. For centuries textiles were one of the few ways Korean women could express their creativity.

The design and symbolism in Bojagi continues to spark design innovation for many artists around the world. You will see how bojagi has been reinterpreted in many different types of media including in temporary land art structures.

In her own work Sara has experimented with the traditional narrow seams creating irregular grids. When this is combined with translucent layers of hand dyed silk the seaming structure creates a further linear dimension often revealed in the shadows that they cast.

Sara Cook
With a professional seamstress for a mother and an uncle who was a Savile Row tailor, Sara was never far from fabric and sewing advice as she grew up. As a qualified teacher and textile specialist with more than 25 years’ experience, Sara established Brighton Fashion and Textile School in 2012 to teach City & Guilds qualifications in textiles. A member of the Quilters Guild she qualified as a quilt judge in 2016 and has judged at local and international quilt shows.

Inspired by Chunghie Lee’s work, No Name Woman exhibited at the Festival of Quilts in 2009, Sara became passionate about researching Bojagi and incorporating it into her own working practice. Researching Korean textiles has inspired her to experiment with traditional narrow seams, creating irregular grids. Combined with her love of translucency and constructed textiles, her current body of work explores the effect of light on the landscape.

As a guest exhibitor and lecturer in 2018 at the international Korean Bojagi Forum in Seoul, Sara exhibited her work to a Korean audience for the first time. Awarded the prestigious teachers travel bursary awarded in 2017 The Quilters Guild of the British Isles recognised her expertise in textiles. She travelled to California to study the bojagi collection at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and worked with bojagi expert Youngmin Lee.

The publication of her book Bojagi: design and techniques in Korean textiles this year is the culmination of ten years of research into historic practitioners and artists today, those based in Korea and those practicing across the world.

When: Thursday 22nd August, 6pm to 8pm
Where: Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey St, Bermondsey, London SE1 3XF
Price: Talk: £15 | £12 Students/ Talk plus book: £37.95 | £34.95 Students

For more information and to book tickets, please visit the Fashion and Textile Museum website.