Our Workshop

성창공예

Seongchang Craft

55 years on one path: a workshop that turns wood

55 yrsHands that have shaped only wood

How a block of wood
becomes something useful

Seongchang Craft is the workshop of a master who has been carving wood for 55 years. In Euljiro, Seoul, we turn wood on the lathe — known in Korean workshops by its Japanese name, rokuro. Setting a blade against fast-spinning wood, we shape round forms like columns, legs, bowls and stands. Above all, wooden tableware — bowls, plates and lidded boxes — is what we do best, and we can finish them in traditional ottchil (Korean lacquer) ourselves.

We also handle mass-produced moldings such as stair balusters and furniture legs, and interior woodwork from cutting solid wood to furniture frames and lattice doors. From props for TV broadcasters to graduation pieces for design students, shop signs and homeware — if it can be made of wood, we’re happy to talk.

The precision to copy one sample into hundreds of identical pieces, and 55 years of experience finding a way to make shapes we’ve never seen before. That is the craft of Seongchang.

The Maker

55 years on,
still at the lathe every day

I have spent 55 years on one path: turning wood. Even now, my favorite moment is looking at a drawing or a photo a customer brings in and thinking, “Ah, this is how I can turn it.”

Whether it is one piece or several hundred, these are things people will hold in their hands, so I turn each one with the same care. If there is something you would like made, please give me a call. You will be welcomed with a smile.

— Choi Gwan-gyu, owner of Seongchang Craft

Inside the Workshop