A moktak, or wooden Buddhist percussion instrument, created by the Finnish Korean design studio Company in collaboration with artisan Ahn Jin-seok, in Yeongcheon, North GyeongsangPIKNIC
Kwon Keun-young
The author is a staff writer for the JoongAng Ilbo.
With their eyes closed and headphones on, a wooden figure listens to music in utter serenity, resembling a young Buddhist monk or pensive Bodhisattva. This familiar yet novel moktak, or wooden Buddhist percussion instrument, was created by the Finnish Korean design studio Company in collaboration with a moktak artisan in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang.
Korea-born Aamu Song and her Finnish h husband Johan Olin, founded the Helsinki-based studio in 2000 and have spent two decades traveling the world and collaborating with local craftspeople.
“I bought a paulownia-wood moktak and tried playing it in Finnish forests and on the streets of Insa-dong,” Song recalled. “After thinking about nothing but moktak, even the headphones that young people wore […] started to look like moktak to me.”
During this time, she began to wonder how the instrument could stand upright for storage, and she and her husband ultimately drew and mailed their sketch of such a version to a young, third-generation moktak maker. They worried that he would respond, “This does not fit with Buddhism.”
They were relieved when he instead replied, “I think that this could actually become a moktak and produce a nice sound.”
The resulting moktak is among the new works in “Company World Affair,” an exhibition at Piknic on Toegye-ro in Jung District, central Seoul, that runs through Sept. 6. The exhibition, spread across the building’s four floors, surveys two decades of Company’s collaborations with artisans around the world.
Song and Olin tracked down makers of objects that caught their eye, often by asking around until they found the source. Even when they did not share a language with the artisans, they drew on graph paper as a means of communication.
At a Russian matryoshka, or nesting doll, workshop, older craftswomen saw Company’s drawings of cabbages, eggplants and whales and remarked, “These designs are so new, yet they somehow feel as if we’ve been making them for 100 years.”
That is Company’s method: carefully adding its imagination to ways of life and craftsmanship handed down over generations to make something new together. Walking through works filling three floors and the rooftop, visitors encounter objects with designs that are inseparable from their makers, journeys and histories. There is hardly an object without a story.
Company has collaborated with international brands such as Marimekko and Hermès. The duo has also received recognition, including a special mention at the Salone del Mobile Milano, a furniture fair in Milan, in 2008 and the Helsinki Design Award in 2018.
But what Song and Olin pursue is less prestige than the small pleasures that ordinary objects can bring. Their work links the histories and cultures of different regions through handmade works.
More than 33,000 people have visited the exhibition over five months. Its appeal may lie in offering an alternative to conventional industrial design, which centers on efficiency and mass production. Instead, Company focuses on the human value and stories embedded in objects and the people who make them. Piknic describes their approach as respecting local materials and techniques passed down through generations while viewing the wisdom within them through a contemporary lens.
For visitors coming to Korea during Seoul Art Week, centered on the Frieze Seoul art fair, this is an exhibition that I would recommend. After seeing it, cross the street to Namdaemun Market. The countless everyday objects there may suddenly look a little different.
사연 없는 물건이 없다
권근영 문화부 기자
헤드폰 쓴 채 눈 감고 음악에 귀 기울이는 사람의 무념무상, 동자승이나 반가사유상의 표정을 닮았다. 익숙한 듯 새로운 이 목탁은 핀란드의 디자인 스튜디오 콤파니(Company)가 경북 영천의 목탁 장인과 협업해 만들었다. 한국에서 온 아무 송과 핀란드의 요한 올린 부부는 콤파니를 결성, 20년 동안 세계 각지를 여행하며 현지 장인과 협업하는 ‘시크릿 프로젝트’를 진행해 왔다.
아무 송은 “오동나무 목탁을 사 들고 핀란드의 숲에서도, 인사동 거리에서도 쳐봤다”며 “목탁만 생각하다 보니 헬싱키 젊은이들이 끼고 다니는 헤드폰마저 목탁처럼 보였다”고 돌아봤다. 목탁을 세워서 보관할 방법도 고민했다. 그렇게 새로운 목탁의 모습을 드로잉해 장인에게 우편으로 보냈다. “이런 건 불교와 맞지 않습니다” 하면 어쩌나, 겁도 났다. 3대째 목탁을 만드는 젊은 장인에게서 “이렇게 하면 정말 목탁이 될 것도 같고 소리도 잘 날 것 같습니다”라는 답장을 받고서야 안심했다.
목탁은 서울 퇴계로 피크닉에서 다음 달 6일까지 여는 ‘COMPANY World Affair: 온 세상 만들기의 비밀을 찾아서’에 나온 신작이다. 부부는 마음에 와 닿은 물건을 만든 사람을 물어물어 찾아다녔다. 장인과 말은 통하지 않았지만 모눈종이에 그린 드로잉으로 마음이 통했다. 러시아 마트료시카 공방의 할머니들은 배추·가지·고래 모습이 들어간 이들의 드로잉을 보고는 “너무 새로운 디자인인데, 또 우리가 100년 전부터 만들어 왔던 것 같아”라고 했다. 이렇게 수백 년간 이어온 장인의 삶의 방식 위에 두 사람의 상상력을 조심스럽게 더해 함께 새로운 물건을 만들어 나갔다. 전시장 4개 층에 옥상까지 꽉 채운 작품을 보고 있으면, 사연 없는 물건이 없다.
마리메꼬·에르메스 등 세계적 브랜드와 협업하고, 헬싱키 디자인 어워드(2018), 밀라노 가구 박람회 특별언급상(2008)을 받은 듀오지만 이들이 추구하는 건 크고 유명한 이름보다 일상에서 만나는 물건이 주는 작은 기쁨이다. 서로 다른 지역의 역사와 문화를 물건으로 이어주는 콤파니의 전시엔 5개월간 3만 3000명 넘게 다녀갔다. 효율과 대량 생산 중심인 기존 산업디자인 너머, 물건에 담긴 인간적 가치와 서사가 공감을 불렀다. 프리즈 서울을 중심으로 열리는 서울 아트 위크 때 한국을 찾을 이들에게 권하고 싶은 전시다. 전시를 보고 길 건너 남대문시장에 가면, 물건 하나하나가 다르게 보일 수도 있겠다.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
