Bookcase, desk, chair, books and your little world
The Story of the Study as Told by Carpenter Kim Yun-gwan

“How fitting it is to have one's own desk.”

'The world that made me, the world I made' Anyway, the second book in the series.
This is carpenter Kim Yun-gwan's first book.
This collection includes nine essays about 'studies' written in the author's own words, mainly by the author who makes furniture for studies.
It contains interesting stories about the elements that make up a study room, such as bookshelves, desks, chairs, and books, and themes such as youth, women, libraries, and love rooms.

Although the book unfolds various stories centered around the study, the author's emphasis is clear.
To have your own study.
That will be “the first step to living as yourself.”
If you listen carefully to the story of his study, you will soon find yourself with a neat and tidy desk of your own, placed under a window with plenty of sunlight.

Sometimes, or to be honest, often, I think about retirement.
When I decide to retire, my final project as a carpenter is to build a desk and a bookshelf to use until I die, and a coffin to wear after I die.
I will put down my extension cord, sit down in my study, watch all the movies in the world, and read books about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, the Crusades, and the history of cultural exchange between East and West.
Sometimes, when I come home drunk from meeting old friends, I'll stop by the warehouse before going into the study, pat the coffin, and smile, muttering, "If it's like this, I wouldn't have any regrets even if I died now."
But until that wonderful day comes, it's unlikely I'll be able to build my own bookshelf with my own hands.
This is because a bookshelf is a piece of furniture that requires more work than you might think.
It usually takes about one and a half to two months to make a five-piece bookshelf set.
It's still hard for me to imagine the luxury of making my own bookshelf, even though I live off my income as a carpenter and have to bear the high costs of materials and workshop maintenance.
---From "The Carpenter's Study"

Korean bibliophiles are focused on books and have no interest in bookshelves.
I can talk about books for ten days and nights, but I can't even talk about bookshelves for ten minutes.
I often wonder if I'm stuck in the narrow-minded image of a book lover, thinking, "I focus only on the essentials and don't care about the superficial and peripheral things."
Books stay on the shelf longer than in the hands of their owners.
I find it hard to understand how someone who loves books can neglect their bookshelf.
---From "Bookshelf"

I find a beauty in Paul Smith's desk that I can't find in furniture that adheres to the minimalism advocated by Kenya Hara, the designer of Muji.
The standards that people use for a desk being 'small and neat' and 'well-organized' are only the standards of an onlooker and are not expressed from the perspective of the actual owner who uses the desk.
Paul Smith also explains, “People who come to my office say, ‘Where in the world can you find such chaos?’ But to me, it’s a space with the most order.”
Anyone who calls his desk 'chaos' is an outsider who has nothing to do with it.
For Paul Smith, who actually uses the desk, it is a desk with 'the utmost order'.
---From "Desk"

As a carpenter, I think President Moon Jae-in's use of the Eames Lounge Chair was a wise choice.
As mentioned earlier, it is difficult to see a man who has lived an honest life using a luxury chair as a luxury.
When the controversy over luxury chairs arose, a photo that spread through social media showed him sitting in an Eames lounge chair and reading a book.
I think it's more appropriate to consider the fact that a powerful politician and someone who aspires to be the president of a country would spend a little money on a chair for reading, thinking, and resting as a luxury that takes functionality and efficiency into consideration rather than an extravagance.
Among the comments on the related article, there was also criticism such as, “You’re cosplaying as a commoner by using a chair worth 10 million won but going to a barbershop that costs 7,000 won.”
I believe that living a smart life is using a 10 million won chair and going to a 7,000 won barbershop.
To be honest, I didn't really have any feelings for him until I saw the article '10 million won chair, 7,000 won barbershop' and I started to like him.
Because that's what I think my ideal life would be like.
---From "Chair"

Through long and painful experiences, women have come to realize that
That 'books', like movies, music, and performances, are the most useful tools for becoming a complete human being with freedom and independence.
Now, women who read books, or more precisely, women who read 'also' books (how much the world has been ruined by men who 'only' read books!), will be the salvation of the world.
Women with reflective reading skills will stop the world from groaning and heal its illnesses.
It will enable our souls to pass the test of the 21st century.
---From "Women's Study"

When I stand in the library stacks, I often feel dizzy.
Despite the neat classification according to the Korean Decimal Classification (KDC), the desks arranged in rows and columns, and the search computers appropriately positioned to follow the visitors' path, the library is a place of confusion to me.
The memories neatly arranged in the library make me realize that I am not special, that the things I have experienced, the hurts and pains I have endured, and the things I have realized through those experiences are nothing new, but merely the overlapping of long-standing repetitions.
I'm going through the same experiences as many before me, and I can honestly say that I'm not the "alone-on-my-own" person I'd like to be.
The library forces me not to 'quote' anyone's words and life.
Even the thin rope that holds onto a diluted life breaks.
I get lost in books where everything written is everything that needs to be written.

---From "The Public Library"