해외에서 인기있는 의외의 한국 제품들
Interest in Korea goes beyond K-pop and tourism.
It even extends to gardening tools.
There's one craftsman whose handmade tools have become a big hit overseas.
Kim Hyesung reports.
Cutting, heating, and hammering.
After thirty minutes, the ho-mi takes shape and is installed into a wooden handle.
Called "Youngju Daejanggan Ho-mi", this hand plow is one of the top ten gardening tools listed on Amazon.
"The angle and sharpness of the blade make it easy to dig out weeds, plant seeds and do all kinds of gardening activities."
Sixty-six year old blacksmith Seok No-ki has been making ho-mis for more than four decades.
Good material, the angle of the iron, delicate lines. These are the keys to what makes a good ho-mi."
Ho-mis have been used by farmers in Korea for more than a hundred years, but they recently went viral abroad through youtube and online shopping malls.
Demand is high especially in the U.S. and Australia, as they have more big farming machines thanks to the large amount of land, but not small plows that people can use for gardening.
"Delicately hand-made and sturdy. This is what differentiates our ho-mis with mass produced gardening tools. They didn't become popular overnight though. After putting ho-mis on Amazon website around 10 years ago, a few started being sold. Then in 2018, it suddenly became popular thanks to word of mouth and reviews."
Two-thousand ho-mis were shipped abroad last year.
In the first quarter of this year, more than one-thousand ho-mis were sold outside of Korea.
Given that Seok can only make 60 ho-mis a day...they are currently out of stock.
Designated by the local government as a “top master craftsman" last year, Seok says his hopes are to improve the working environment and to have an apprentice and pass down his craftsman skill.
In addition to ho-mis, thanks to the power of youtube and online reviews, traditional Korean goods like dolsot, a hot stone used for cooking, and traditional blankets are also going viral abroad.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.
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