A Case Study on the Digital Heritage Application of Embroidered Textile Artifacts in Museum Collections

Abstract. This study investigates the digital recontextualization of traditional Korean embroidered textile artifacts from the Gangneung Embroidery Museum, the Onyang Folk Museum, and the Sookmyung Women’s University Museum. Due to their complex physical structure and fabrication techniques, embroidered artifacts present significant challenges for accurate digital reproduction and interactive implementation. To address these, the study focuses on four artifacts that were pre-selected in consultation with the museums based on their potential for digital utilization and commercial scalability. These artifacts, chosen for their diversity in motifs, techniques, and materials, were digitized using HP Captis optical scanning and processed through Adobe Substance 3D tools. The resulting SBSAR-format textures are optimized for use in Unity and Unreal-based WebXR platforms. They replicate embroidery-specific features such as dimensionality, stitch density, luster, and translucency through detailed Physically-Based Rendering (PBR) maps, including Height, Normal, Roughness, and Opacity. Metadata for each artifact was structured in reference to Dublin Core and Europeana standards, forming a labeled dataset applicable to AI training. Key fields such as motif type, embroidery method, and color composition were organized into a schema suitable for semantic search, automated classification, and curatorial tools. This structured approach supports future applications in recommendation engines, multilingual exhibition interfaces, and automated curation systems. Ultimately, the study redefines embroidered artifacts as “Living Heritage” within interactive digital environments and proposes a scalable, human-centered framework for the preservation, interpretation, and creative activation of textile heritage in the era of cultural technology.