Sangwoo Kim is born in 1980 in Korea, he attends the Chonnam National University where he obtains a Bachelor Fine Arts in 2004. He develops a great interest in handcrafts during his secondary school years and begins to examine materials such as wood and mud.
After graduating, he has the chance to explore many materials and their possibilities for craftsmanship, but he feels the need for more in-depth training. After two years of learning in different workshops, he settles in his own space, where he dedicates himself to making utilitarian pieces.
When he came to Europe for the first time, he is confronted with the idea of the ceramic piece as a purely artistic object. Finding a starting point in a series of rounded pieces, he tries to reproduce this simplicity of form into objects that look like river stones. Always using the same construction techniques, he learns from the potters. This time he creates blocked shapes, polishing them until he achieves a mirror-like finish. Finally, he lets the fire infusing them.
In 2014, Sangwoo embarked on a master’s program at the University of Seoul, which brought further changes to his work. Here he has well-equipped workshops where he is able to experiment and innovate with traditional materials. He began to work with porcelain as a sculptural material.
Starting with a simple form, such as a rolled volume of white porcelain, he gradually built up more complex forms, always starting from stretched and flattened slabs.
He recovers the piece previously texturized with up to eight layers of colored porcelain and fires them slowly. He works the surface with a diamond disk grinder, using water to control the dust; it is the hardest part of the creation process that can take weeks.
His work has been exhibited in many countries: France, Poland, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Belgium, Taiwan ; and is also part of international public collections.