Student artists show traditional Korean attire in Berlin

Over 80 items of traditional Korean attire including hanbok will be exhibited at the Free University of Berlin from Friday to Jan. 17. The exhibition is a project by the state-run Korea National University of Heritage.

The “Korean Traditional Attire, Hanbok: Art of Dignified Manner” exhibition will feature not only everyday attire like hanbok, but uniforms worn by royals and a large collection of fabrics used for each season, such as silk and ramie.

The items on display have all been made by KNUH members supervised by professor Sim Yeon-ok, who teaches traditional arts and crafts at the university run by the Korea Heritage Service. Sim led a 32-member team comprising students, graduates and lecturers in creating the pieces for the exhibition.

Sim, a textile engineer, has long championed a fresh look at embroidery. Previous research focused heavily on embroidery as aesthetics, according to Sim, who authored “2,000 Years of Korean Embroidery” in 2020.

Embroidery is all about structural design, she said.

The Berlin exhibition follows a 2018 arrangement between the Korean and German universities to expand exchanges.

“We are actively pursuing promoting the beauty of Korean clothing by recreating old clothes using the same traditional techniques,” a KNUH official said.

The Berlin exhibition is free to the public.