sojanggak

Sojanggak, which means "house of small books," is a design studio and publisher based in Seoul, South Korea. We compile content into books that fit three keywords: "out of sight", "originality" and "beautiful format". In other words, we find original stories from people behind the scenes and turn them into beautifully formatted books. With a special focus on Southeast Asia, we hope to introduce books that capture the diverse visual cultures of Southeast Asia to the world at home and abroad and build bridges to become friends with each other based on a richer understanding. For example, 70% of the books published by our publishing house so far have been about Southeast Asia, and one of them, Myanmar 8 Days, was selected as the "Best Book Design from Korea 2022" and exhibited in the "Best Book Design from all over the World 2023" exhibition.

huruf, Selamat Datang, sojanggak, 2024 © huruf

"Selamat Datang" is an introduction to street typography in Malaysia. In Malaysia, where many different ethnic groups live together, signage is often written in four or five languages. The streetscape formed by multilingual signs is a microcosm of the diversity of Malaysia.

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PrachathipaType, MobType, sojanggak, 2024 © PrachathipaType

"MobType" is a book about the types used in Thailand's pro-democracy protests. The artist captured the political messages people wrote on the ground or on pickets at the protests, turned them into digital fonts, and distributed them for free. The voice of one citizen shouting in the streets was transformed into a digital font that anyone could use, and became a tool to represent the voices of more people. The dynamic voices of citizens were given life.

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"Khmer Character Travels" is a book that introduces the Khmer script used in Cambodia by metaphorizing it to the life of a human being. Originally published only in Korean, this book was translated into English this year to bring it to a wider audience. The Khmer script contains a philosophy of respect for human beings. Each consonant character represents a person: head, torso, and legs; 21 of the 33 consonants symbolize the solid parts of the body; and 12 consonants represent the liquids that flow through the body. When all 33 consonants, which also symbolize individuals, come together, they form a body, which symbolizes the Cambodian community. With such symbolic meaning, the Khmer script was born in South India, developed in Cambodia, and later had children, the Thai and Lao scripts. Can this human-like script survive in the digital age?

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