17 March 2026
Artist Highlight - Chaeeun
Interview and Review
Chaeeun is a South Korean ceramic artist and designer based in the UK. She holds an MA in Design from Central Saint Martins (2024). Her practice explores the physical possibilities of clay through casting and material experimentation, often merging ceramic and textile languages. She treats mould lines as visual blueprints rather than flaws, revealing structural frameworks and the labour embedded in each form. Her recent Han-ttam Collection addresses environmental concerns, including water inequality and the ecological impact of textile dyeing, creating sculptural vessels that examine resilience and the layered meanings carried by domestic objects.
ARTIST INTERVIEW
1. In the Han-ttam series, casting seams are deliberately emphasised through the blue stitched line. What drew you to transform these structural traces into a central visual element?
My work begins with the idea of creating objects that viewers can physically touch. Rather than focusing only on visual ideas, I want people to experience the work through their senses, especially through touch. For this reason, instead of hiding the seams created during the casting process, I chose to reveal them and highlight them with blue stitched lines. The stitch is not just a decorative element but becomes an important structural part of the work and appears as a three-dimensional element within the form.
2. The term Han-ttam refers both to stitching and to blueprint work. How do these dual meanings shape the conceptual framework of the vessels?
Another conceptual starting point for the blue stitched line comes from the idea of a blueprint. In the past, blueprints were made by copying white lines onto blue paper, and I was inspired by this method. At the same time, stitching also refers to the act of sewing different pieces together.
This idea of a blueprint also appears in my ceramic process. Before starting a piece, I make sketches and drawings, and when I create plaster moulds I divide the casting structure into several parts. When designing the forms and moulds, they are separated into different patterns and sections. By showing these divisions as blue stitched lines, I try to visually reveal how separate parts come together to form one structure.
3. Your work merges ceramic and textile languages, referencing denim, stitching, and dyeing. How do these textile associations influence the way the ceramic forms are constructed and perceived?
I think my ceramic forms are closely connected to people and everyday life. In my previous works, I explored ideas related to human memory, traces, and textures that are connected to daily experience.
When I developed the Han-ttam collection, I designed forms inspired by irregular shapes found in the human body, and I wanted to use materials that are connected to our everyday lives. In this context, I began thinking about denim and observed how it exists in people’s daily lives.
enim has become one of the most widely worn garments and continues to be an important part of contemporary culture. The blue fragments that appear in parts of the collection also remind viewers of Korean patchwork. At the same time, they recall the marks that faded denim can leave on the body. These textile references encourage viewers to see the ceramic forms not as a single solid object, but as something that feels joined together, like pieces that have been stitched and connected.
4. High-gloss porcelain surfaces play an important role in the work. How do reflection, distortion, and concealment operate within these polished surfaces?
The high-gloss porcelain surface creates different shadows and reflections depending on how light falls on it. The lighting and environment of the exhibition space can change how the surface appears, allowing new moods and visual feelings to form on the white ceramic surface.
At the same time, the viewer’s reflection and the surrounding environment appear on the surface, which can partially hide or distort the shape of the work. In this way, the surface creates visual interest and offers another sensory experience for the viewer.
5. The blue stitch also references repair and environmental concerns surrounding textile dyeing. How do these ecological ideas become embedded within the material language of the work?
The blue marks can remind us of the traces left on the body by dyed textiles. However, I also wanted to suggest that these traces do not exist only on the human body. They can also remain on other living beings and in the environment.
In this sense, the blue stitch becomes a metaphor for the traces left by human activity and its impact. At the same time, stitching also suggests the act of repairing or joining things together.
6. Your practice often negotiates control and vulnerability through casting. How do repetition and precision coexist with unpredictability in the making process?
One of the techniques I use in ceramics is slip casting with plaster moulds, which I find very interesting. Slip (Liquid clay) is poured into a mould made of several plaster pieces, and the plaster absorbs moisture while the form develops. The timing of pouring out the remaining slip and the structure of the mould can sometimes create unexpected changes.
Ceramic work usually goes through three stages: working with a greenware (making process) , drying, and firing in the kiln. During each stage, unexpected changes can happen.
Even when the same mould is used, each piece becomes slightly different because it is made by hand. Sometimes pieces crack or break during the process. For me, these moments can reflect the instability of our society and the uncertainty of the future. I think these unexpected changes are one of the most interesting qualities of ceramics.
7. Within The Invisible Made Visible, your work highlights hidden frameworks and labour. What aspects of process or structure do you hope viewers become more aware of when encountering these vessels?
Although plaster moulds allow similar forms to be repeated, in reality every piece cannot be completely identical because of the hand-making process. I hope viewers can recognise these small differences and see them as part of the character of the work.
Many people think plaster casting is simply a fast way to produce identical forms. However, if they look closely at my series, they will see that each piece has slightly different shapes and details. I hope viewers can enjoy discovering these differences. Most importantly, I want my work to feel approachable, like ceramics that people can easily connect with.
STITCHING STRUCTURE AND MEMORY INTO CLAY
REVIEW BY CHIH-YANG CHEN, ART DIRECTOR
Chaeeun’s ceramic practice explores the structural and conceptual possibilities of clay through casting, surface intervention, and material dialogue with textile traditions. Working primarily with porcelain, Chaeeun approaches the vessel not simply as a container but as a site where process, labour, and everyday cultural references become visible. In the Han-ttam Collection, casting seams are transformed into a central visual language, allowing the hidden frameworks of ceramic production to emerge as part of the finished form.
At the heart of the work is the blue stitched line that traces the seams created during the mould making and casting process. In conventional ceramic production these seams are often removed or concealed in order to produce a smooth, unified surface. Chaeeun takes the opposite approach. By emphasising the seam and marking it with a vivid blue line, the artist turns a technical trace into a structural and conceptual feature. The stitched element recalls both sewing and blueprint drawing, referencing the way objects are designed, divided, and assembled. Through this gesture, the vessel becomes a visible map of its own construction.
Textile language further informs the work’s visual identity. References to denim, stitching, and dyeing introduce associations with everyday clothing and the physical presence of fabric against the body. These references encourage viewers to read the ceramic forms not as singular solid objects but as surfaces that appear joined, repaired, or patched together. In this sense, the vessels echo the logic of textile assembly, where fragments are stitched into a unified structure while still retaining the memory of their separation.
The highly polished porcelain surfaces introduce another layer of perception. Their reflective finish captures surrounding light, shadows, and even the viewer’s own reflection. As the environment appears across the surface, the clarity of the form shifts between revelation and distortion. This visual instability draws attention to the relationship between object, viewer, and space, transforming the vessel into a surface that both reveals and conceals its presence.
Environmental concerns also underlie the work’s material language. The blue stitched line subtly recalls the traces left by textile dyes, connecting the vessels to the ecological consequences of dyeing processes and water pollution. At the same time, stitching carries connotations of repair and care, suggesting the possibility of mending damaged systems rather than concealing them. Through this metaphor, Chaeeun links the technical language of ceramics with broader reflections on environmental responsibility.
Although the forms originate from plaster moulds, each vessel retains small variations produced through hand making, drying, and firing. These subtle differences resist the expectation of mechanical repetition often associated with casting. Instead, they reveal the unpredictability and vulnerability inherent in ceramic processes. Through the Han-ttam Collection, Chaeeun invites viewers to recognise the traces of labour, structure, and material transformation embedded within each piece, highlighting how even familiar domestic objects can carry complex narratives of making, repair, and care.