Aesthetics of process
- Gyung Kyun has 40 years of experience as a potter
- He learns a great deal from the process of failure
- He is a culinary professional
Gyung Kyun Shin incorporates his own interpretation on the traditional techniques. Shin's techniques are inherited from his father – the renowned ceramicist Jung-hee Shin – who was known for recreating Goryeo ceramics in the 1960s and 1970s. Shin's ceramics radiate traditional beauty with a contemporary twist. They are fired in the traditional wood-fired kiln, a true display of Korea's natural beauty. Simple, authentic yet delicate and stylish, Shin's ceramics are the perfect bridge between traditional art and modern living. His moon jars were presented at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in 2014.
Discover his work
Discover his work
INTERVIEW
The aesthetics of the moon jar has its roots in a tea bowl. If the tea bowl is a poem, the moon jar is a whole novel. It has a peace that like that of a landscape filled with the light of the full moon – over a field covered with white snow.
Making pottery is becoming one with nature. I work while listening to the sound of wind and rain, in the morning I wake up to the bird singing. In Goheung, I made a small pond and the moon and starlight was beautifully reflected in the pond.
I keep and continue traditions. I prepare firewood, produce glazes, tread clay with bare feet and bake pottery by reduction firing at high temperature. I ask myself. "Where did that bowl come from?” Freedom is available when the foundation is solid.
I believe that the basis of making pottery is in nature. If you live in harmony with nature, you don't need many things. Pottery is the same. If you prepare good wood, clay and glaze, and bake it in a kiln on an impeccable fire, you don't need to add anything on its own.
Gyung Kyun Shin
Ceramicist
Jangan-eup, South Korea
AVAILABILITY
By appointment only
PHONE
+82 517276647
LANGUAGES
Korean, English
