Return to Innocence

A page from Ms. Basford's
A page from Ms. Basford's "Secret Garden" invites one to add to the drawing instead of just coloring it.

 

As spring comes, Easter comes closer, and with them, more colors. These colors will be more appreciated by most everyone in Korea this year, as the country has been turned on to color, and coloring books. 

As a trend or an effective tool to deal with stress, many Koreans have taken to coloring rather than exercising, dieting, drinking, or chatting with friends.

Take a look at bookstores. Coloring books are taking over the bestseller shelves, one in particular. Ms. Basford’s coloring book, “Secret Garden,” which started the trend first in Europe in 2013, arrived in Korea Last year, defining itself as anti-stress therapy. The book has since sold more than 430,000 copies in this country. The 96-page collection of black-and-white ink drawings of flowers, leaves, trees, and birds has become a national best-seller. Moreover, around 100 different coloring books have advanced up the ranks in Korean book stores.

Recently Korean pop star Kim Ki-bum posted delicately color-worked patterns from Ms. Basford’s book on his Instagram, raising the temperature of the craze.

Researchers tried to explain the heat, suggesting that there might be something to the idea of coloring as a means of stress relief. Psychologists have found that coloring has positive effects on participants’ mental health, explaining that it brings them back to a place of simplicity and provides a creative outlet. Adults might feel transported back to a gentler time of life by the way of coloring pencil, since coloring has always seemed to be most suitable for preschool playing like jungle gyms and nursery rhymes. Or, people are fed up with the convenience of a digital life and look to do something analog and creative with their own hands.

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