Kindigo, a local brand that means "Korean indigo" and has been promoting Korean traditional indigo dyeing methods since 2012, held the 2024 Indigo Festival from July 16 to 28, 2024, in Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province. Indigo, called jjok or zzok (쪽) in Korean, is a natural dye characterized by its vivid blue color produced from the indigo plant's leaves. Kindigo's 2024 Indigo Festival featured various activities, including an indigo farm immersion experience, various workshops, an exhibit, an art market, and a mini concert.

As someone who has been interested in Korean indigo dyeing after first learning about it from the 2022 Netflix series Korea No. 1, I have been following Kindigo's activities on social media since discovering the company last year. I wanted to participate in the 2024 Indigo Festival but could not, so I reached out to its CEO, Su-ju Jang, for more information on Korean indigo and the work they do at Kindigo, especially the festival.

I interviewed Jang from July 23 to August 2, 2024 via email, in coordination with Kindigo team member Euna Lee, who provided English translation help. According to Jang—who also serves as Kindigo's head indigo dyer and has been practicing the craft for nearly 20 years—Kindigo works to spread awareness of the "forgotten" beauty of Korean indigo and preserve its traditional and natural dyeing method as a sustainable way of life. Kindigo holds a variety of activities, such as operating a studio and an indigo farm; conducting research; making and selling local, handmade products; and organizing events, such as its indigo festival, which it has held annually since 2018, except for the years it was canceled due to COVID-19. 

Over the years, the Indigo Festival has evolved in format, featuring hands-on experiences, exhibitions, and markets. Its venue has also shifted from Kindigo's showroom in the Sinsa neighborhood to a park in the Yangjae neighborhood in Seoul, as well as exhibition halls, and the lakeside in Yongin.

For the 2024 Indigo Festival in Yongin, Kindigo exhibited works under the theme "Indigo Wave," representing the blue waves that start from small indigo seeds. "The main exhibition featured wave artworks by my fermentation indigo dyeing mentor, Sung-dong Kim, along with pieces from new indigo dyeing artists, creating a scene reminiscent of a wave-crashing seashore, which was very popular," Jang said.

Kindigo collaborated with Geumson Village, a community in the Yongin region that connects local artists and makers around Yongdam Lake. "This collaboration allowed us to extend our reach into areas we couldn't have covered alone. About 10 indigo dyeing artists or teams and over 15 local artist teams participated. We also held a small concert with local musicians and a yodeling session against the backdrop of Yongdam Lake and our blue indigo artworks," said Jang.

Wave artworks by local indigo dyeing artists are featured at the 2024 Indigo Festival. (Kindigo)

Kindigo hosted various workshops that incorporated indigo dyeing, such as pottery, woodworking, leatherwork, and fashion. Meanwhile, its Indigo Farm Program allowed participants to immerse themselves in the value of indigo dyeing by visiting the farm, harvesting indigo plants, and experiencing traditional dye extraction methods. 

Kindigo CEO and head dyer Su-ju Jang (fourth from the left, wearing a bright blue apron) leads the Indigo Festival's farming experience on July 20. (Kindigo)

Participants of the Indigo Festival's indigo dyeing workshop on July 26 pose with their creations dyed with Korean indigo. (Kindigo)

In addition to Su-ju Jang, I also interviewed Sanghee Hong, one of the local artists who collaborated with Kindigo for the 2024 Indigo Festival. Hong, a vegetable leather craftsman from Busan, led a vegetable leather class, where she taught attendees how to make bags using leftover wrapping cloths from home.

Participants of the workshop led by Sanghee Hong from Busan show the usable bags they created by recycling wrapping cloths and tying them with vegetable leather. (Sanghee Hong)

In an email interview from July 27 to 30, 2024, Hong shared that aside from conducting her workshop, she also participated in other activities of the Indigo Festival, such as fermented indigo dyeing; a class on dyeing raw indigo that can only be done in the summer; and the farm experience. 

Hong said that she was greatly interested in the origins of indigo, as it is known to be the oldest dye in the world and has been used for a very long time. When asked why Korean indigo dyeing is important to her, she said, “I always create something new through leather work, but I always worry about whether what I am doing is meaningless. The reason I became interested in Korean indigo was because I wanted to live a more environmentally friendly life. I learned that in order to make niram (Korean indigo paste) in Korea, they dye it with fermented water using shellfish from the sea and traditional Korean makgeolli (Korean rice wine). The working environment, which does not use hot water, does not harm nature, and allows us to give back to nature what we have received from it, was a very shocking and meaningful experience for me. As environmental pollution is getting worse, I think that if I could choose a career, I would like to live my life doing something that causes as little harm to nature as possible. I fell in love with Korea's eco-friendly indigo dyeing.”

Sanghee Hong participates in the 2024 Indigo Festival's farm experience, where the first step in making niram (Korean indigo paste) is soaking indigo plants in a rubber bucket to be fermented. (Sanghee Hong)

Hong said that the 2024 Indigo Festival, which made her realize once again that many people are interested in traditional Korean indigo dye, "was an inspiring opportunity to show many people that there is a way to sustain life without putting a burden on the environment by applying the traditional methods used by our ancestors to modern times." She also thought it would be great to introduce various programs and products that would encourage more interest and participation in Korea's traditional indigo dyeing.

Fabrics designed and dyed by Sanghee Hong with fermented indigo water during the Indigo Festival are hung to dry. (Sanghee Hong)

I also interviewed Lee Park, a participant in the 2024 Indigo Festival, via email on July 27. According to Park—who had recently spent a year in Seoul while on a sabbatical from being a chemistry professor in the USA—one of the reasons she wanted to spend a sabbatical in Korea was because of her interest in learning about the indigo traditions in Korea and Japan. While she does not have a background in textiles or natural dyeing, she has a long-standing interest in colors and dyes. "In my chemistry research and teaching, I have always been interested in how colors arise (and I even teach a chemistry course on the chemical and physical origins of color). From a chemical perspective, there are some particularly interesting steps involved in using indigo as a dye, and I wanted to learn more about that from a hands-on perspective. I was lucky enough to attend a two-week workshop in Japan last fall, and then as I was looking around for similar opportunities in Korea, I found Kindigo."

Park has made several trips to Kindigo over the past several months, most of which were not during the official Indigo Festival. She shared that since her Korean skills were limited, she was not able to attend Jang's full indigo master class; nevertheless, Jang was kind enough to let her attend the first session, which offered an overview of the indigo production process and other natural dyes. 

In May, Park visited the farm again to help with transplanting the indigo seedlings. She made another visit in June to do some dyeing using indigo that Jang had prepared the previous year. "Finally, during this year's Indigo Festival, I was able to participate in the harvesting of indigo, and the first stages of the dye extraction and preparation," said Park.

Lee Park carries indigo plant seedlings ready to be transplanted at Kindigo's farm in May 2024. (Lee Park)

The process of Korean indigo production involves: 1) planting the indigo seedlings, 2) harvesting the fully grown plants, 3) extracting the dye from the indigo plants by soaking them in water, and 4) adjusting the pH of the extracted dye and aerating the mixture to produce the deep blue color associated with indigo. (Lee Park)

These pieces dyed by Lee Park at Kindigo feature a variety of patterns. (Lee Park)

"I think I've learned enough that I will be able to try my hand at growing and producing my own indigo once I get back home. My experience working with Kindigo has been wonderful—I've learned a lot, and I hope that if I have a chance to return to Korea, I'll be able to connect again with Su-ju Jang," said Park.

Learning about Korean indigo and the Indigo Festival through the insights and experiences of Jang, Hong, and Park further opened my eyes to the amazing practice of Korean indigo dyeing. It has prompted me to wonder and search if indigo dyeing practices also exist in my country—and I was so glad to find out that the Philippines has its own traditional indigo dyeing, too, and it is still being practiced in some regions and indigenous communities. I hope to someday personally attend Korean indigo and Philippine indigo activities to learn more about them and help share these valuable cultural practices with more people.