Most of his works include Deombeong Buncheong (plopped Buncheong pottery). His Deombeong Buncheong shows calm and simple figures, resembling the life and minds of Koreans who have traditionally lived as one with nature. Wangbangyo – Wangbang Village Samdong is a place where “porcelain workshops” were operated to deliver ceramics like Buncheong wares to the central authority in the Joseon era. Still today, here remain the kilns providing the basis for creative works by outstanding ceramists ― as of now, seven ceramists are working here.

Amidst these workshops, Wangbangyo has settled in Wangbang Village, Samdong, at a valley-like place between the high mountains in front and back. At a corner of the whole site featuring a traditional kiln, an extended modern kiln, a residence and an exhibition hall, this project was to construct a new tiny cafe and an exhibition hall to communicate with the public. Transforming an exhibition: ceramics in nature It was not an easy task to accommodate both functions of cafe and exhibition in a small space even within 168 sq. m.

During conversations with the client, I realized that ceramics are like our lives, born from and returning to nature, shaped by and ultimately returned to the earth. This realization marked the smooth flow of our design concept: to exhibit ceramics within the embrace of nature. This became possible precisely because it involves ceramics. A radical approach was proposed: to break away from the traditional practice of displaying ceramics indoors, instead making it possible to enjoy tea indoors admiring the ceramics exhibited outdoors in the grand nature, thus extending the possibilities of displaying endlessly without limits.

Eight walls: glaze over nature Korean ceramic glaze is said to feature cracked glaze. In the front and back of Wangbangyo are large mountains. Here, I aimed to construct eight walls that connect these mountains as if to apply human-made cracked glaze to nature. The once blocking mountains are transformed into an extended world of nature through this human-made physical intervention. It is here that ceramics are exhibited. The walls connecting the interior and exterior lead occupants to discover their inner worlds focusing solely on tea and ceramics.

The void mind: ceramics and architecture The minimal lines comprising architecture are structural walls. The infinitely extending world of walls connects the inside and outside as one. Connecting ceramics and architecture is the sensibility created by the artisan’s hands. Even though the construction details were roughly finished, the concrete materiality and spatial sensibility born directly of a ceramic artisan’s hands have one and the same mind: the mind of enjoying a tea, filling up the void glass as well as emptying the full glass.