Ok Kim

Seoul-based artist Ok Kim makes colorful contemporary art, furniture, and homeware. Kim’s collection utilizes the traditional Korean Ottchil—a natural lacquer material and technique found in east Asian countries, often resulting in shiny red or black surfaces—with a contemporary twist. The Merge Series presents artistic furniture and paintings inspired by stone stacks often found on Korea’s mountain passes. It is an old Korean tradition for good fortune to carefully balance stones into stacks. For each piece, Kim begins by applying a base coat of lacquer and fine sand atop a steel structure to achieve an uneven surface. Then she applies several layers of colored lacquer in varying hues in a laborious process that takes months to complete—alternately sanding and lacquering to create her ideal “merged” chromatic combinations. The blended colors, she says, represent the accumulated wishes people make through the layering of stones—an accumulation of positive energy that adds beauty to the world.