2025 COLLECTION
These pieces are a culmination of years of experimentation, travel and more error than trial. I spent a year developing my own Lacquerware process, testing traditional methods and materials found through months of research. The following year, I took on a reductive approach, interpreting the significance of each step and component by systematically omitting parts of the process. I wanted to discern why, traditionally, things needed to be done in certain ways so that I could better understand the artisans that came before me.
I also found, through repeated exposure to Lacquer that while my hands could develop a tolerance to its toxic compounds, my lungs became even more sensitive to the vapors as time went on. So, after redesigning the ventilation of my workshop, countless notebooks filled with my illegible scrawls and scraps of pearl in my pockets, I’m still fixated on evolving my technique.
Please enjoy
SHEEN is affectionately the second iteration of my first practice piece. It is about being tender-headed, about cozy mornings where the scent of grease wrapped around my Father’s fingertips as he imbued his love directly into my scalp. It was kneaded into my thoughts and I wore it with me until the sweat from my playground antics frazzled a halo around my head. But when that happened, he would call me to sit back down (often more than once), and this ritual of love would begin again, winding itself through every curl on my head.
PROCESS DURATION: 5½ MONTHS LACQUER/CLAY LAYERS: 61 LAYERS PEARL TYPE: NATURAL ABALONE & PAUA ABALONE SIZE: 6” X 6” X 1”
SHEEN
RULER 7” is a part of my continued introspection on how Lacquerware has evolved from a purely utilitarian craft to one that represents the opulence of luxury. I delineate luxury as part convenience, part comfort with those aspects often occurring as an interchangeable feedback loop. I realized one day that I own a lot of rulers, different types for different functions but always at hand when I need them. They are so pervasive in my life, it is almost as if they aren’t there at all yet when I can’t find the one I’m looking for, I overturn everything to get it. Luxury often presents in society as a linear set of goods, services or access but I think it’s possible that without its association with exclusivity, it may also reside in the everyday objects that simply speak to us personally.
PROCESS DURATION: 5 MONTHS LACQUER/CLAY LAYERS: 54 LAYERS PEARL TYPE: NATURAL ABALONE & PAUA ABALONE SIZE: 7¾” X 1½” X ¼”
RULER 7”
DOMINO is my first attempt at Ggeuneumjil, a Najeonchilgi technique that involves inlaying thinly cut pearl strips into geometric patterns or shapes. I embedded a programmed NFC Tag into its wooden base to also serve as an electronic business card, allowing me to bring up my website on mobile devices. I look forward to creating more contemporary hybrid pieces like this as well as further perfecting my pearl cutting skills.
PROCESS DURATION: 3 MONTHS LACQUER/CLAY LAYERS: 27 LAYERS PEARL TYPE: NATURAL ABALONE & MEXICAN ABALONE SIZE: 2½” X 1¼” X ¼”
DOMINO (NFC TAG)
