Paju-based artist Han Gyeol was born into the woodmaker’s life.
Paju-based artist Han Gyeol was born into the woodmaker’s life. His father and grandfather worked closely with wood, making joints for furniture. He didn’t immediately start his career with wood, in fact, he started as an operator at one of Korea’s largest broadcasting networks. He had a fascination with technology, specifically speakers. His first art show was to take discarded microphones from his former employer to turn them into speakers. From there, he became an artist. These days, the multi-disciplinary artist is focused on smaller wood pieces. Much of his work is made of Korean Oak. He has a fondness for Korean Oak because of the cultural importance. The Korean Oak tree used to be so important that fathers would plant a Korean Oak when they had a daughter. They would wait until the daughter was engaged to be married to cut down the tree and make furniture to send as her dowry.
