A person’s memory of an object can be a fragment of their life. This bag series was designed as a visual expression of such fragments.
Discarded cables, fabric scraps from old garments, and vintage items sourced from flea markets have been reimagined and transformed into these bags.
The knit structures reinterpret the photos and experiences I gathered from Dongmyo Street in Seoul, capturing the essence of memory through texture and form.
This project began with my experience of a second-hand street market in Korea. The market has two defining characteristics:
1. Most of the sellers are elderly, typically over the age of 70
2. The items they sell are second hand goods they personally used in their lives
2. The items they sell are second hand goods they personally used in their lives
It was here that I met an elderly man who was selling old cables, shirts, watches, spoons and shoes, all of which had been part of his own life. He shared with me how he had acquired each item and the memories attached to them. Calmly, he told me that he was terminally ill with stage 4 cancer. But he had come to the market simply because he only had a few days left to live and those days felt unbearably dull. So, with a cup of instant coffee in hand, he sat down as a seller, surrounded by the belongings he had once cherished.
As I observed the layered arrangement of his items, I felt as though they represented fragments of his life. The uneven piles reminded me of the wrinkles on his skin, each object carrying time, use and memory. After that encounter, I saw him a few more times, but one spring day his spot on the street was empty.
He often joked about life and death, and his lighthearted attitude towards his own mortality left a lasting impression on me. That meeting shifted something in my perception of what it means to live and to let go. This project is a tribute to that fleeting yet meaningful connection.
First, I focused on the way he stacked his belongings. The irregular piles formed a unique layered structure that reminded me of wrinkles on skin, layered in a way that looked as though they might collapse or flow. I created a series of collages by combining this structural form with photographs I had taken on this street.
Secondly, I conducted material experiments centred on old cables and objects that had once been used by someone. I dismantled second-hand clothes to create threads and fabrics, and used copper from the cables to dye the textiles using a traditional method.
To express the emotions I felt on the street, I set a boundary through colour. The muted tones evoked the sellers’ greying hair, the delicate texture of their skin, and the faded objects they laid out. At the same time, these colours captured the distinctive atmosphere of the street.
