▲ Calligrapher Kim Jeong-chul aka Nojeon

Unlike in the past where calligraphy was an exclusive property of scholars and nobles, it is widely spreading and practiced today not necessary with a brush and an ink but anything like a pen. Why has it become this much famous? One answer might ascribe to the prevalent electric devices that do not require hand writing. 

Calligrapher Kim Jeong-chul says “I used to lead a life as normal as normal people do. I thought I was a man who had no interest in things in particular or passion for anything. One day when I reached my middle age, I started to feel something wigging in me and I soon found out it was a desire to do something more than things I do normally in daily life. And the very medium to express my desire out of me was but calligraphy.” 

When it comes to what to write after a certain period of practice, he decided to write words that can make people smile. “I think one’s smile is a powerful disease that spread fast to people around the one. It passes over positive energy as well as open-mindedness. That’s why I most write about words that can make people smile.”

Kim introduced an episode of his work: one day a woman who said from Jeju Island asked him to sell one of his works seen in front of a store with tears brimmed in her eyes as she was comforted by the work. Amazingly, she paid a visit a year after and Kim realized that his work has this power of touching people’s heart. Ever since the episode, Kim deepened his world of calligraphy and is making works that can make people smile as well as touched.