Lee Hyunju

Flower designer

©Lee Hyunju

Enjoying flowers

Lee studied floristry both in South Korea and in England
She uses negative spaces, typical of Korean art, in her creations
She uses only eco-friendly materials for her arrangements

Lee Hyunju’s love story with plants began when she was working as a book editor. "Providing pictures for books about nature and ecology was part of my job" she explains. "I used to go to the mountains by myself to observe wild flowers and take photos of them. It was so much fun that, little by little, I took interest in cultivated species, too. So, when I decided I wanted to work on my own and express my creativity, floral design was a natural choice." After a two-year course in South Korea, she completed her studies in London, at the London Flower School, and in 2018 she launched her atelier in Paju, a very inspiring city as it’s surrounded by low mountains and rivers. She called the studio Mugu, which means “pure in nature without any decorations”.

Interview

©Lee Hyunju

©Lee Hyunju

Is floral art popular in your country?: Actually, South Korea is not a place where people enjoy flowers on a daily basis. However, we make a lot of flower decorations for gifts or events on special days. Happily, an interest in flower design has been increasing in recent years.
Is your style more western or Korean?: It’s a mixture of all that I experienced at home and abroad. For sure, the Korean influence is strong: “negative spaces” – the empty spaces without filling – are very common in my country’s art and architecture, and forms an important feature of my arrangements, it is a lot about balance.
What does Mugu’s motto “born not made” mean?: In my arrangements, I try to express the natural beauty of flowers as much as possible. But behind this beauty there’s always death, because flowers have a time-limited life after you cut them from their roots. That’s because they were “born, not man-made”.
Is sustainability important to you?: Sure. Since I opened my studio, I’ve never used plastic floral foam. To construct arrangements, I prefer chicken wires, flower frogs, even straws. In some cases, I use a simple branch to make a structure and fill it with sphagnum moss to keep flowers in place.

Lee Hyunju is a rising star: she began her career in 2018 and she started teaching in 2018