Korean Pressed Flower Gallery Goes to the Philippines

Backhyang Pressed Flower Gallery, a South Korean company based in Gwangju City, Gyeonggi Province, was among the foreign exhibitors at the October 2016 Manila FAME, a trade fair held in the Philippines. The event, a showcase of premium home, fashion, and lifestyle pieces from the Philippines and other countries, was held on Oct. 20 to 22 and hundreds of local and international exhibitors, and thousands of buyers and visitors from around the world participated.

The gallery introduced a variety of unique and vibrant fashion accessories and home accents made with real preserved flowers. These were designed by Pressed Flower Master Baek Mi Kyung, who has been creating works of art made from preserved flowers for over 20 years now. In 2014, she was hailed as the first Pressed Flower Master of the Federation of Artistic and Cultural Organization of Korea. According to Ms. Baek's son, Collin Kim, and also the manager of Backhyang Pressed Flower Gallery, pressing flowers is a technique that Ms. Baek learned overseas many years ago.

The company preserves flowers using different techniques to achieve different results. One method involves pressing and drying blossoms to create pressed flowers or aphwa in Korean. Another technique involves the use of a special chemical to keep the natural color, texture, and shape of the flowers. Sometimes, the flowers are dyed.

Among the items that the Backhyang Pressed Flower Gallery presented during Manila FAME were brooches, necklaces, key chains, rings, lamps, wall decor, and framed artworks:

 

The pressed flower Philippine flag was specially made for the Manila FAME exhibition. Isn’t it sweet? As a Filipino who considers Korea my second home, it was heart-warming to see the Korean and Philippine flags side by side.

After my interview with Mr. Kim, who was very nice and accommodating, Ms. Baek arrived, smiling brightly. She was very kind and warm, too! She even gave me a souvenir: a pressed flower earphone jack plug accessory. I was so happy! We also took photos together to commemorate our meeting.

After learning about the gallery and meeting the wonderful people behind it, I decided to follow the gallery on Facebook and Instagram to keep myself updated.

On Nov. 18, 2015 Ms. Baek appeared in an episode of Yeo Yoo Man Man (여유만만), a KBS2TV program. There, Baek and three other guest housewives shared their success stories that began from their hobbies. It was so touching and inspiring to watch Ms. Baek talking so fondly about flowers and her craft. You can watch the episode by clicking on the link below: