I was born in 1976, in winter the day after the longest night of the year.
My name is the name that my mother gave to me. ‘Yu’ or 宥meaning generous and ‘Rim‘ or 臨 meaning pro; they come together making Yurim which means merciful.
My life began in the countryside in Gangwon province in South Korea.
23.5 x 23.2 x 10.2 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wall-hanging 3D printed parts on the back.
At the age of five, I had collected close to one hundred paper dolls of people. I cut out the dolls from sheets of paper and clothed them with pretty clothes and trinkets, and imagined the lives of the different characters.
I remember one day, I was sent to the supermarket with my mother 's purse to buy some food, and I bought a paper doll with the change. I was supposed to return the change to my mother ...
Later when I grew up and had a career as a fashion designer, I laughed at myself still cutting and pasting imagery from magazines for my work, just as I did while I was playing with my childhood paper dolls.
21.5 x 22.5 x 12 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
During my childhood, my mother and I had no home. I remember moving to a new place and moving quickly. I moved almost every year to a different place in the same small country village.
My mother was a woman without a husband, and everybody in that place looked down on my mother. In Korea, at that time, without a man people were free to treat her very badly. Correct and brave mothers have to fight for right and wrong from time to time, and as a result, we were kicked out every time over an unexpected quarrel with the owner of the house.
23.7 x 23 x 12 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
At age 11 my writing was selected for the Pyeongchang in Gangwon province convention and came out in print in a book. I still keep this book titled "Small Day Bigger".
In the story, written on the bowl, I promised my mother that I would give her warm gloves and that I would take care of her forever. But I now live very far away from her.
22 x 25.5 x 9.8 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
My early years in the countryside were full of beautiful surroundings. The four seasons can be felt clearly even with my eyes closed.
In the last of the seasons, the world is covered with new white snow and at the beginning of a winter night when the moon is round and big, outside it is as bright and calm as daylight ... The night that the church bell rang, my mother and I dressed up beautifully and dipped our feet in the snow and headed for the church on the hill. That Christmas is kept in my happiness bottle.
22 x 24 x 9.5 (D) cm/2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
VainEgo 6
When reading a book or watching a movie, there is a point in time when a story change is made.
My 13-year-old rural life ended abruptly because of my mother’s love for her daughter and an incident with the new owner of a fried chicken shop.
23 x 23 x 9 (D) cm /2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
We moved to Uijeongbu city near Seoul, and the place where I first stayed was a large area of buildings like a refugee village.
After a family died from carbon monoxide poisoning, I moved into my Aunt's house for a few years until I finished school. The cheap underfloor heating, that they needed to survive the brutal subzero winter temperatures in those temporary buildings, meant burning charcoal indoors.
Thinking about the souls who had to die from burning those cylinders of charcoal ...
23.5 x 24 x 9.5 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
Enigma.
Music that put a mysterious aura in my life and into my soul.
Even when I slept and when I walked I listened to music, even when I went to take my school exams, I listened secretly hidden.
Still if I listen to Enigma’s music, I will enter into the young and innocent feelings of that time. Music plays a large role in my art, always listening to it as I work.
23.5 x 19.5 x 10 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
Moving to a new apartment. I was able to have happiness and dreams. I could say it was my house and my first experiences of living independently began.
25 x 22.5 x 10.7 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
Rejected!
In my first school, I painted what I imagined it to be like under the ocean. My teachers were surprised to see my painting, and arranged for me to enter art competitions and encouraged me to keep painting. So, every year, I entered these competitions and put my surprised teachers into a pit of disappointment every time with my failure.
The painting I was doing was not meant to satisfy other people. But nevertheless I grew up wanting to go to Art University. Despite gaining entrance to the University, I was then rejected after they took into consideration my family situation and circumstances.
20.2 x 24 x 10.5 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging metal 3D printed on the back.
In 1995, I did not go to university, but I got a job in Seoul with an insurance company called Dong-A Life Insurance. I started Life Drawing as a hobby using my first salary. I still cannot forget the mysterious world of fascination.
I worked for the company for 6 months but I knew that it was not the place for me. So I planned to start studying fashion design as this was already spinning round in my head. I went to Guam on my first overseas trip after I left my first job.
20.5 x 20 x 11 (D) cm/2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
I studied at fashion design college for a year, studying seriously for the first time. During that time, I could not imagine how much time I spent devoting myself to it night and day with joy and happiness.
19.5 x 20.5 x 10 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
I had to pay for my own tuition while attending college. I found something that I could earn money from and learn a hobby at the same time. I was working part-time in a billiard hall, and getting good at playing too. After that, I learned bowling and I worked in a bowling alley, and another time I worked at a bar making cocktails.
22 x 25 x 10.7 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
20-year-old me started fashion design work for the first time. The brand was called 'Supermarket' and was the first place in Korea to sell certain kinds of accessories and novelties.
The store was located in an expensive part of Seoul called Apgujeong, where I was able to collect signatures from all the celebrities. The smile that I got from the actress Choi Jin-sil when she laughed is still vividly in my memory.
22.5 x 23.5 x 10.5 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
The first time I started designing for a shoe company was in 1997, at which time the IMF was bailing out the Korean economy.
It wasn't easy to get a job because I wasn't a university graduate. However, I was really upset about the severe economic problems.
Having not been paid for three months I started to work evenings in a cocktail bar in Uijeongbu, where I was living with my mum not far from Seoul. So I was working every day until midnight and slept no more than five hours. It was a very hard time working day by day.
Eventually the shoe design company was forced to close, so I had to look for other shoe design companies and ended up doing a string of design jobs in an unstable economy.
Every time I submitted my CV to new companies, I was so embarrassed and aware that I had not lasted long with one company yet.
After surviving for three years of working through such a crisis, I started working as a total accessory designer for a popular clothing brand called OZOC in 2000. This was a Japanese brand in Korea, and I went on business trips to Japan many times, which is how I became very interested in Japan and Japanese culture.
I was a popular accessory designer for three years, and my handbag and shoe designs were in high demand, and I was often interviewed for fashion magazines in Korea at the time.
22 x 23 x 10.7 (D) cm/ 2016
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
처음으로 신발 디자이너를 시작 한 건 1997년. 그 당시 한창 IMF가 시작되는 시기였다.
대학 졸업자가 아니 여서 취업도 쉽지 않았는데 IMF라니, 정말 속상했다.
3개월간 급여도 받지 못하고 있어, 회사 일이 끝나는 대로 퇴근해서 2시간을 통근 하여 의정부에 있는 칵테일 바에 가서 밤 12시까지 일을 했다. 정말 고된 하루하루를 보냈다. 결국 회사가 문을 닫아 버려 다른 회사를 알아 봐야 했고, 그렇게 이 회사 저 회사를 넘나 들었었다. 정말이지 이력서를 회사들에 제출 할 때 마다 너무나 곤욕 스럽고 창피했다. 그렇게 그럭저럭 고비를 넘기고 일 한지 제법 3년 이라는 시간이 흘렀을 때 아는 분의 소개로 OZOC 라는 의류 브랜드에서 악세사리 디자이너로 일을 시작하게 되었다. 이 브랜드는 일본의 브랜드로 일본 출장을 수시로 다녔고, 일본에 대한 관심을 무척 갖게 되었다.
3년간 잘 나가는 악세사리 디자이너로 패션 잡지에 내 신발과 핸드백 그리고 나의 인터뷰로 넘처 났다.
When I was twenty-five years old. My career was spectacular, and my career turned into a positive one.
Based on various experiences, I had grasped the overall shoe industry.
That's how a situation was created where I could be able to start my own business. One of the shoe manufacturers provided me with an office and made my designs. It was very successful, and my designs were sold to more than 20 clothing brand companies; the largest order was from a company that was exporting shoes to Japan. I think the Japanese liked my designs.
I made a huge profit in just one year. Although I was doing very well I wanted to explore and experience more, bigger and different things in my life. So I thought it would be good to go to Japan and learn Japanese so that I could communicate directly with Japanese companies and make my business more prosperous.
Those around me who knew me said I was not in my right mind. They couldn’t believe I'm going to Japan and closing such a successful business... I think they could not appreciate my vision.
24 x 22 x 10 (D) cm/ 2017
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
만 25살. 나의 이력은 화려했고, 그 화려한 이력은 긍정적인 것으로 바뀌었다. 여러 경력을 바탕으로 전반적인 신발 업계가 파악이 되었다. 그렇게 혼자 자립 할 수 있는 상황이 만들어 졌다. 신발을 제작하는 회사에서 사무실을 제공 받고, 디자인 샘플을 만들어 주었다. 나의 첫 사업을 시작 하게 된 것이다. 내가 디자인한 신발은 무려 20업체가 넘는 곳에 팔렸고, 일본으로 수출하는 회사가 가장 큰 업체 였다.
딱 1년 동안 엄청난 수익을 올렸다. 그러나 난 그것에 안주하지 않고 또다른 나의 인생을 개척하고 경험하고 싶었다. 그래서 일본을 가서 일본어를 배우고 그후에 다시 한국에서 회사를 시작하면 좋지 않을까 라는 생각 했다. 그러면 내가 직접 일본 업체와 소통하고 나의 사업을 더 번창 할 수 있겠다는 생각을 했다.
주변의 나를 아는 이들은 내가 재 정신이 아니라 했다. 이렇게 잘나가는 사업을 접고 일본 으로 간다니…..
26 years old. I arrived in Tokyo to learn Japanese.
I spent half of every day at the Naganuma Japanese School in Shibuya, also studied at home, so spent a total of 15 hours a day learning Japanese. I was so proud of myself that I got level 2 in Japanese in six months. My auntie who lives in Japan was very impressed by it.
When I left my mother for a few years for the first time, to go to Japan, I brought a rosary for protecting my mind although I have no religion, and I also brought a sketchbook that looks like a Bible. I started drawing a picture diary in the sketchbook. One day, I drew a vivid image of a dream, and one day, I just drew a line in the direction my hand goes without thinking. I drew portraits of new friends and people surrounding me who I knew.
22.5 x 25 x 11.5 (D) cm/ 2017
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
26살. 동경에 일본말을 배우러 도착했다.
시부야에 있는 나가누마 라는 일본어 학교에서 반나절을 보내고 집에 와서도 공부했고, 하루에 장작 15시간을 일본어에 매달렸다. 그렇게 하여 6개월 만에 일본어 2급을 따게 되었다. 일본에 계시는 이모님께서 무척이나 놀라워 하셨다.
처음으로 엄마의 곁을 몇년 떠나면서, 종교는 없지만 한때 성당에서 받은 묵주와 성경책 같이 두꺼운 스케치 북을 가져 갔고, 그곳에 그림 일기를 그리기 시작 했다. 어떤 날엔 생생한 꿈의 이미지를 그렸고, 어떤 날엔 그냥 아무 생각 없이 손이 가는 방향을 선으로 그려냈다. 새로이 만나는 이들 그리고 그들의 자화상을 그려 넣었다.
During the year that I spent in Japan, I had a strong desire for shoe design, and this drove me to have a shoe design exhibition.
With the help of a shoe company that I once worked for in Korea, I made shoe samples and held an exhibition called "Shoes Garden" on top of an antique shop Cafe in Daigangyama, in Tokyo. It was just a one day show, but it was a really a pleasant time.
22 x 22 x 10 (D) cm/ 2018
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
일본에서 1년 이라는 시간을 보냈을 쯤, 신발 디자인에 대한 강렬한 갈망이 생겼고 그런 갈망은 나의 신발 디자인 전시회를 갖게 해 주었다.
한국에 아시는 신발 회사의 도움으로 신발 샘플들을 만들었고, 다이깡야마에 있는 안틱숍 카페에서 ‘신발의 정원’ 이라는 전시회를 딱 하루 가졌다. 물론 아는 친구와 동료 그리고 가족들만 참여 했지만 정말이지 기분 좋은 시간 이었다.
Meet my soulmate.
Actually, when I first came to Japan, I had a Japanese boyfriend. But my English flatmate who lived with me in Shinjuku had a friend who would visit, and one day, I saw this man in front of our flat and he made my heart flutter. However, neither of us knew each that we both liked each other.
A year passed without expressing our love for each other and then one day, I had a my leaving party to which I invited him and some friends of mine. We all had a good time and then the party finished, but he was still there, and we found out that we liked each other.
In fact, I never wanted to get married. I was influenced by the mother's experience and the unsuccessful marriage surrounding my family. But, meeting this person made me confident that I would really be able to ‘Love’ even though we didn’t speak each other's languages...…
23.5 x 24 x 10 (D) cm/ 2019
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
나의 솔메이트를 만나다.
실은 일본에 왔을 당시 난 일본 남자 친구가 있었다. 근데 내가 살게 된 신주꾸에 있는 집에서 함께 살게 된 영국 여자인의 남성 친구가 나의 마음을 설래이게 했다. 하지만 우린 서로의 언어를 몰랐다. 그렇게 1년이라는 시간 동안, 서로의 사랑하는 마음을 전달 하지 못한 체 보냈다. 그러던 어느 날 난 일본을 떠나는 파티를 열었고 그렇게 그 사람도 초대 하여 즐거운 시간을 보냈다, 또한 서로 좋아 하고 있음도 알게 되었다.
실은 난 단 한번도 결혼을 하고 싶다는 생각을 하지 않았다. 엄마의 경험과 주변 가족의 성공적이지 못한 결혼 생활 그런 것에 받은 영향이었다. 하지만, 이 사람을 만나고 보면서 정말 나도 ‘사랑’ 할 수 있을 거라는 확신이 생겼다. 서로의 언어도 모르는데……
I said ‘Yes’. In 2006.
We moved to Bristol, UK just one day before my birthday in December 2006.
Since we didn't know each other's languages, we started by speaking a little in Japanese. I had to teach him Japanese to be able to communicate with each other. Unfortunately, I did not teach Korean.
Anyone with experience like me, will know that no knowing each others’ languages is not very necessary for early lovers.
In 2007 June, we had a wedding at the University of Cambridge, Churchill College Chapel with the blessing of families and friends of mine, and Julian Gough’s family and friends.
My 'British' life, which I hated to learn English so much, began.
25 x 26.5 x 12.7 (D) cm/ 2020
Life drawing on stoneware with ceramic pencil, ceramic transfers, gold, porcelain pens, and wallhanging 3D printed parts on the back.
그 사람의 청혼을 받아들였다.
2006년 12월 겨울, 우린 영국 브리스톨에 내 생일을 하루 앞두고 우리의 새 삶은 시작되었다. 서로의 언어를 모르기에 일본어로 시작 하였고, 내가 알려 줄 수 있는 만큼 그와 일본어로 소통하였다. 한국어를 알려지 못하게 지금에서 좀 아쉽지만…
경험이 있는 사람이라면, 초창기의 사랑하는 이들에겐 언어란 그다지 썩 필요 하진 않다는 걸 알 것이다.
2007년 우리 한국에서 오신 가족들과 친구 그리고 쥴리언의 가족과 친지 그리고 친구들의 축복을 받으며 캠브릿지 대학 처칠 체플에서 결혼식을 올렸다.
그렇게 영어를 그토록 배우기 싫어 했던 나의 ‘영국’ 생활은 시작 되었다.
