Kim Gyu allows her pieces to crack and change colors – respecting the wood and its innate desires.
We would call Kim Gyu a true intellectual. Though she modestly states she didn’t do well in her materials major, she received her master’s in aesthetic and philosophy and originally had goals of getting her PhD. However, on the suggestion of one of her beloved professors, she left the world of academia behind for design school in France. While heartbreaking, she began her career as a designer in a corporate setting but longed for creative independence (she found that being a designer at a company wasn’t quite fulfilling the void). She quit her job, and started working in furniture design, but as she worked, she began to make smaller, utilitarian woodwork products. Kim Gyu was drawn to wood naturally, with no specific memory to drive her towards the medium, but she walked the course and never looked back. Now, her work has shifted towards art and away from utility. It's here she's found her true creative calling. She is one of the founding woodworkers the wooded moon jar, which she begins by woodturning and finishes with hand carving. Gyu allows her pieces to crack and change colors – respecting the wood and its innate desires. She only uses local Korean wood. Because her products are incredibly hard to reproduce, all of Kim Gyu’s work are one of ones.
