Jogakbo

A patchwork jogakbo wrapping cloth, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jogakbo (Korean: 조각보) is a traditional Korean patchwork technique in which small scraps of leftover fabric are pieced together into a larger cloth. It was traditionally used to create bojagi (wrapping cloths). Jogakbo is one of several bojagi styles, alongside embroidered subo (수보) and single-panel court gungbo (궁보), though the technique itself is not confined to any single object. According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, jogakbo is best understood as "a style of patchwork", and contemporary artists have extended it well beyond wrapping cloths into clothing, footwear, and artwork, treating jogakbo as a design medium in its own right.

Characteristics

A jeogori (jacket) made using the jogakbo technique, with a norigae (ornament)

Jogakbo pieces were traditionally made from a single type of fabric. The most common fabrics were silk, ramie, cotton, and hemp; different materials were rarely mixed within one piece. Color schemes frequently draw on the traditional Korean obangsaek (the five directional colors: blue, red, yellow, white, and black). Jogakbo also use the intermediate ogansaek (오간색) shades, the same palette found in saekdong (striped rainbow fabric). Both palettes carry associations with longevity and good fortune. Some jogakbo are made in a single color, while others combine multiple hues in patterns that the Victoria and Albert Museum describes as reading like "a modern abstract pattern."

Traditional jogakbo are grouped into several recognized types based on their piecing pattern. A 2011 study identified five main types:

• Rectangular jogakbo (jangbanghyeong-sajogakbo, 장방형사조각보) – pieced from combinations of squares
• Floral-diagonal jogakbo (hwamundan-jogakbo, 화문단조각보) – diagonal seams create the impression of squares rotated 45 degrees
• Saekdongbo (색동보) – striped, with panel widths that follow an arithmetic sequence
• Ramie jogakbo (mosi-jogakbo, 모시조각보) – spacing and area increase in a geometric sequence
• Silk jogakbo (myeongju-jogakbo, 명주조각보) – diagonal seams form symmetrical trapezoids

History

Jogakbo pieces were made mainly by commoner and middle-class women during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910), whereas the single-cloth gungbo was commissioned by the royal court. Most surviving examples date from the late Joseon period, as delicate materials such as silk and ramie do not survive for centuries.

The oldest jogakbo confirmed to date are three pieces recovered from the votive objects enshrined inside the wooden seated Vairocana Buddha statue. The statue is housed at the beopbojeon (법보전; a type of hall) in Haeinsa temple. These pieces date to the early Joseon period, extending the documented history of jogakbo back more than 500 years. The statue and its votive objects were jointly designated Korean Treasure No. 1777 in 2012.

One of these three pieces is pieced from silk fabrics in colors corresponding to the traditional Korean obangsaek (오방색, five directional colors: blue, red, yellow, white, and black), arranged in a regular grid pattern rather than an improvisatory one. Since the votive objects found with the statue include a written vow, barwonmun (발원문), the piece is thought to carry a prayer for blessings tied to the statue's enshrinement. It also served its practical function as a wrapping cloth.

Aesthetic significance

Jogakbo combine pieces of varying size and shape without an overall predetermined plan, yet the result reads as balanced rather than haphazard. Scholars point to this mix of order and improvisation as the heart of the form's appeal. Patches are typically joined "in an irregular, improvisatory fashion," producing compositions that can read as a modern abstract pattern. They were made by women who were largely excluded from formal education during the Joseon period.

Jogakbo are traditionally sewn using a triple-stitched seaming technique known as gamchimjil (감침질). It encloses the raw edges of a seam so both sides of the finished cloth are clean-finished. Many pieces were also made from a single sheer material, such as ramie or silk gauze, sewn edge-to-edge without overlapping. Light often passes through the finished cloth, giving it a distinctive "window pane" appearance.

Jogakbo have been compared to abstract art, particularly the geometric compositions of Piet Mondrian and Paul Klee.

Geometric and mathematical analysis

Because jogakbo are pieced together from squares, rectangles, and triangles of fabric, they have also been compared to tessellation (jjokmaematchum, 쪽매맞춤). A 2011 mathematical analysis went further, expressing some of these patterns as explicit sequences. Saekdongbo widths follow an arithmetic sequence, $a_{n}=a+d(n-1)$, while the spacing and area in mosi-jogakbo grow geometrically, $a_{n}=ar^{n-1}$.

Jogakbo do not repeat a small set of prototiles the way a regular or semi-regular tessellation does. Scholars still find the comparison useful. Both are built on the same basic idea: fitting shapes together edge to edge. Jogakbo just take far more liberties with how the pieces are cut and combined.

Contemporary reinterpretation

Contemporary Korean ceramicist Shin Sang-ho reinterpreted the surface composition of jogakbo in ceramic form in his 2008 work Baked Painting-Jogakbo (구운 그림-조각보). It was shown in his 2025–2026 retrospective Infinite Variations (무한변주) at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon.

Textile artist Chunghie Lee (이정희) extended the jogakbo technique into wearable art and large-scale installation, and founded the biennial Korea Bojagi Forum (한국보자기포럼) in 2012 to promote the form internationally. Her work is held by several museums. Fashion designer Lie Sang Bong deconstructed jogakbo in his 2009 Organza Origami dress.

A researcher reinterpreted jogakbo through the concept of recycling and presented examples of designed products utilizing recycled materials.

See also

• Bojagi
• Tessellation
• Hanbok
• Chinese patchwork
• Boro (textile)