As one of the finalist of Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2020, Kang Sukkeun 姜秀坤 grew up in the Taebaek mountains of Gangwon Province in eastern South Korea. He admires the curves from nature. His hand carved piece is aways beautiful, its delicately organic and asymmetrical form offset with subtle lustre. 

 

Kang calls his bowls “hamji (bowl or vessel), which are used for many purposes in Korea. He refers to his process as “the lacquer heat curing method”, which has been used in Korea for over 1,000 years for practical applications such as waterproofing and insect repellent on armour and helmets. 

 

“My artistic sensibility is based on natural laws - knowledge of the role of moisture in trees, the shape off tree rings, the direction of warping, changes in shape given by knots,“ says Kang.