Gifts for Foreign Friends: Two Najeon Lacquerware Jewelry Boxes — Songhak and Mokdan

I have two foreign friends I've been seeing at the same gathering for several years now. Both are around my age, and after sharing side dishes and accompanying each other to the hospital during the hard stretches of life in Korea, we've become like family. This past spring, one of them mentioned she might be returning home before long. After hearing that, I found myself wanting to give them both a truly meaningful gift.

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At first I searched vaguely for things like "gifts for foreign women" and "gifts for foreign acquaintances." Keychains, fridge magnets, and ballpoint pens kept coming up one after another. They were all pretty enough, but they felt too lightweight to give to friends I'd spent years with — more like souvenirs you'd hand to someone you'd met briefly on a trip. What I wanted was something my friends could keep on top of a dresser for years, wherever in the world they ended up living, and look at whenever they wanted to remember the time they'd spent in Korea.

That's when najeon (mother-of-pearl inlay) jewelry boxes caught my eye. Since these are female friends, they'd be perfect for storing rings and earrings, and above all, you can tell at a glance that they're Korean craft. From there I narrowed my search to "songhak jewelry box" and "mokdan najeon jewelry box" and spent a long time looking. The two friends have quite different personalities, so rather than buying two of the same thing, I wanted to choose a design that suited each of them.

The one I chose first, for my quieter and more deep-natured friend, was the 나전 한지좌보석함中-송학[적색] (Najeon Hanji Jewelry Box Medium – Songhak [Red]; hanji is traditional Korean paper, najeon refers to the mother-of-pearl inlay technique, and songhak means pine tree and crane). It is a najeon lacquerware handcraft piece with mother-of-pearl cut and applied onto hanji, featuring a design of pine trees and cranes. I read that songhak symbolizes longevity and freedom from illness, and the pine tree represents integrity and prosperity — it felt like a way of saying, "I hope you stay healthy and do well, wherever you go." The size is approximately 18.5 cm wide, 13.8 cm deep, and 9.5 cm tall, just right for sitting on one side of a vanity table.

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My other friend is someone whose very laughter is bright and radiant, so a peony design came to mind for her. That's how I landed on the 한지와 자개-목단보석함大[적] (Hanji and Najeon Mokdan Jewelry Box Large [Red]; mokdan is the Sino-Korean word for peony). The mokdan — that is, the peony — is a flower that symbolizes wealth and splendor, which suited her perfectly. At 21.2 cm wide, 15 cm deep, and 9 cm tall, it is a little wider than the songhak box, which I thought would work well for her since she has a lot of accessories.

The thing I actually put the most effort into was the names. I wanted to have each friend's name added to the lid, with my own name included small in the lower right corner beneath it. I wrote the request in the notes field when placing the order, but then worried for days that the positioning hadn't been communicated clearly, so I revised and resent the same message several times. Looking back, it was a bit much — but that's how much it mattered to me. Whether name personalization is available can vary by product, so if you're set on having a name added, as I was, it's easier on the nerves to ask the shop before ordering.

The day the boxes arrived, I took them out and placed each one in a separate shopping bag. Both are fragile items, so I was careful to carry them in their boxes. I also tucked a short card into each bag — the 전통 한복카드-연인(여) (Traditional Hanbok Card – Couple [Female]; hanbok is traditional Korean clothing), which features an illustration of a woman in hanbok. I wrote one line in Korean and one line in each friend's language. It felt better to have my handwriting alongside the jewelry box rather than just handing it over on its own.

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A little while later I invited both friends over to my place. After we each had a cup of tea, I handed over the shopping bags. The friend who received the songhak jewelry box opened and closed the lid a few times, then spent a long moment just looking at the crane design. Then she turned toward her friend and said "아름다워" — "beautiful" — in Korean. The friend who received the mokdan jewelry box was quietly running her fingers slowly over the mother-of-pearl. She seemed fascinated by the way the color of the inlay shifts with the light, and she carried it over to the window to tilt it back and forth.

When I explained the meaning of the designs, the two of them turned to each other and laughed for a while, saying, "So yours is wishing you a long life, and mine is wishing me wealth." When they noticed my name tucked in the corner beneath theirs, one of them said, "So this is your mark — proof it came from you." In that moment, all those days of rewriting the notes field felt worthwhile.

When you're not sure what to give a foreign friend, if you've known each other for a long time, I think something they can keep close and use every day conveys your feelings better than a small souvenir. A jewelry box is something you open every day, which makes that even more true. The product can be shipped overseas, so I also felt less worried about my friend being able to take it home with her later.

This account is based on an actual purchase; individuals and organizations have been anonymized and some scenes have been reconstructed.