Main Theme
]Jinju Traditional Crafts Biennale > Main Theme
Law of Traditional Crafts
“Traditions become new through the sieve of history.”
The main theme of the 2021 Jinju Traditional Craft Biennale is the ‘Law of traditional crafts’. It asks if there are laws,
principles, or rules that penetrate crafts from ancient to modern times, and in both the West and the East.
It seeks to encourage the people living in the current era of cutting-edge technology to question the traditions in crafts,
and find the meaning of traditional crafts in contemporary contexts.
Traditional crafts have been passed down throughout history and various cultures.
They are created at the fingertips of craftsmen, and deeply embedded within our lifestyles and folklore.
When distinguishing traditional crafts from other transmitted crafts, folk crafts, and cultural heritage,
perhaps their most important significance is the unique aesthetic creativity of craftsmen in different eras.
Laws and orders are inherent in the historical and periodic categories of tradition,
and there is also an intrinsic rate of tradition based on basic skills within the field of traditional crafts.
Acquiring basic skills in crafts is a learning process that involves the accumulation of time and repetition of actions.
In other words, it requires insurmountable time and continued patience of waiting for the materials allowed from nature.
Craftsmen hone their skills to create crafts that not only reveal robust shapes and uses on the basis of tradition,
but also reflects their contemporary creativity.
In this sense, crafts can be seen as reconstructing the ‘law of traditional crafts’ from a new perspective on today’s tradition.