2-Piece Desk Set: Masterpiece Najeon Gold-Trimmed Peony Roof-Tile Pen Case in Red + Business Card Case (Master Artisan Kim Yong-gwan)

Overview

The red-lacquer version of this desk pair: a pen case and a business card case, both inlaid with the peony roof-tile pattern and edged in gold tone. Red changes the piece completely — the shell no longer sits in stark contrast but glows warm against the ground, closer to how najeon looks on antique Korean furniture.

Red lacquer is also the harder finish to get right, since the pigment has to stay even through many polished coats.

Heritage & Craft

The maker works shell down to a translucent sheet, cuts the blossom elements, and beds them into the lacquer surface before the final coats go on. Each coat cures in a damp cabinet — lacquer hardens with humidity, not heat — and is sanded back, so what looks like a single glossy skin is a stack of many.

The giwa layout borrows from the flower-stamped end tiles that close a temple roofline, a form Koreans have associated with protection for well over a thousand years. Filling that circle with a peony turns the guard motif into a wish for wealth and standing.

Artist

Made by Kim Yong-gwan, a Korean master craftsman working in najeon inlay.

Specifications

• Material: lacquered wood, natural mother-of-pearl inlay, gold-toned trim
• Motif: mokdan-giwa, peony in the roof-tile register
• Colour: red
• Set contents: 2 pieces — pen case and business card case
• Origin: Handmade in South Korea
• Brand: K-Crafts | Code: KS-P0000JYP

Gifting

Red carries celebratory weight in Korea, which nudges this set toward openings, launches and first-day-in-the-new-role gifts — anywhere the occasion is a beginning rather than a thank-you.