Appreciating Korean Teaware in Boseong

Belle & I first met Hong Seong il in Yixing, where he was exhibiting his work. Later he came to visit us in Shanghai and we formed a friendship over tea, whisky, and ceramics.

Seong il is a Korean potter, who has chosen to live in Boseong, on the south-west coast of Korea, where most of the country's green tea is grown. He chose to live here, far away from the main ceramics center of Icheon, because it's less competitive, cheaper and quieter, but also because it's a stunningly beautiful place.

Eugene & Seong il (right) at Boseong's scenic green tea plantation

This particular tea garden has been pulling in the tourists because it was used as a backdrop to a love story in a Korean drama series. The visitors come here mostly to take photos, and not for the tea, although the kiosk was doing a brisk trade in green tea ice cream, despite the chill. The nearby tea museum, which is pretty amazing as far as tea museums go, was sadly completely devoid of people.

This was only my second trip to Korea, and I was excited to get out of Seoul and see some more of the countryside. Fall is a beautiful time of year to visit Korea. The Autumnal foilage of the Japanese maple and gingko trees catch the sunlight and blaze with red, orange and yellow.

Boseong in Autumn

Korea produces a lot of potters, and appreciation for ceramics is part of the national identity. Even the cover story of the Korean airlines inflight magazine was dedicated to potters creating traditional onggi clay jars

Seong Il and his wife Hye Jin both studied pottery at university and set up their Nosan clay studio in Boseong, to get away from the traffic and stress of megacity Seoul. Hye Jin makes utilitarian table ware and coffee ware, whilst Seong Il concentrates on tea ware. They live a simple life in the countryside with their two daughters, in a house designed and built by Seong Il. Their studio and tea room is underneath the house, with an external gas fired kiln. From their studio you can look out across the valley at the surrounding paddy fields, forested hills & tea plantations.

Nosan signature blend clay

Seong Il uses local Boseong clay as a base, adding refined clay to raise its firing temperature. Sand, sawdust, and fine coffee grinds are added to soften the hard porcelain clay, making it easier to join parts like handles. Coffee may seem an incongruous choice to use in creating tea ware, but these tiny black grains burn up during the firing, leaving the clay with a uniquely porous texture, whilst helping to moderate shrinkage. Seong Il's work is often soda fired, using carbon trapping, shino glazes, and shells collected from the nearby beach, to create a distinctive style.

Seong Il's work is contemporary, expressive and whimsical. Although he plays with familiar forms, he gives each one a quirky personal twist, so no two pieces are alike. He experiments with different combinations of clay slip, wood & soda ash, so each piece is a lively multi-layered composition, both functional and emotional.

There's something organic & marine, about these pieces, as if they were shaped by the sea. For the pieces Seong il created for Tea Urchin, we chose to go with white porcelain, for its simplicity and honesty. A blank canvas on which we can add further layers. The playfulness of Tea Urchin is captured in the choice of animals as teapot lids. These works are now available for sale in Tea Urchin teapots

On weekends, Seong Il's student Peter comes to work, and the almost imperceptible sound of the potters wheel spinning is overlayed with Canadian ice hockey commentary and podcasts about linguistics.

Watching Seong Il work, it seems the pieces take shape almost effortlessly, with the minimum of effort. He makes it look easy but it's actually deceptively simple. When it came time to make my own cup, I discovered using the right amount of force & speed is surprisingly difficult. I'm not sure my wonky cup will survive it's firing. Perhaps it's better if it doesn't!

I'd like to thank Seong Il and his wife Hye Jin for hosting me, and spoiling me with such delicious food. I love the colour, balance and simplicity of this dish - sticks of sticky rice with sweet potato, steamed broccoli, barbecued beef, fresh tomato and chilli. It allows you to focus on the essence of each flavour, how they form harmony and counterpoint with each other.

For my last meal, they took me to a special fatty pork restaurant, where the pigs are fed green tea to flavor the pork. The barbequed pork was sublime, if very fattening!