Hyejeong Kim's work develops from long-standing ceramic traditions while maintaining a precise and individual language. Born in Japan to a Korean family, she works with forms that do not depict history, but carry its weight through the delicacy of the structure.
During a period spent in the UK, European ceramic practices entered into quiet exchange with the Korean methods she had studied since her early years. Over time, Hyejeong Kim's work detached from fixed typologies, favouring forms that emerge through process rather than follow a set model.
A shift occurred after the 2011 tsunami in Japan. In the years that followed, Kim's work began to reflect change. While lines loosened and surfaces opened, boundaries became less determined. The vases welcomed nature inspired shapes, formed by lines like waves, bearing the traces of destruction. They remind us however of delicate vegetal arabesques.
Wheel-throwing remains Kim's primary method. The wheel imposes limits, but within those limits, only touch guides the evolution of the form. The clay spins outward from a single point, gently shapedthrough repeated gestures that allow subtle shifts and balances to emerge. The resulting vessels are then ready to face time by themselves, discovering the pale radiance of platina. Kim's practice is steady and deliberate. She exhibits internationally and teaches with attention to form as a way of thinking. Restraint is not a rule in Hyenjeong Kim's work, but a condition for precision, allowing the essential qualities of each piece to come forward undisturbed.