SOLUNA FINE CRAFT

FINE CRAFT by SOLUNA

Venue : 4 Cromwell Pl, South Kensington, London SW7 2JE

Gallery 5 : LIGHT TO SHADOW

Gallery 6 : MASS AND VOID

Date : 2024.05.14 - 05.19

Artists: Dahye Jeong, Kyouhong Lee, Woosun Cheon, Keeryong Choi

Organized by : SOLUNA FINE CRAFT

Supported by : London Craft Week, LOEWE Foundation, KCDF

A Poetry of Materials that Goes beyond Cultural Boundaries

The history of Korean craft goes back about 7,000 years with developments in ceramics, metal, wood, mother-of-pearl, horsehair and more. Each material on its own has an interesting story to tell. The basis of contemporary Korean art has its origin in material properties. This is a distinct trait of Korean culture as the most sophisticated people, from the royal court to learned scholars, in ancient times enjoyed objects made using different materials embellished with challenging making skills.

Over the recent years Korean culture has expanded beyond its own country and today we are truly experiencing an outburst of Korean contents globally. Craft also is being influenced by this phenomenon, and this has been further enhanced by the exposure given by the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize founded in 2017. Until now 32 artists from Korea have been selected as finalists, with 1 winner (Dahye Jeong working with horsehair). Coming from an entertainment business background the founder of Soluna Art Group Ilhwan Noh manages his company in the same way as major Korean entertainment enterprises. After having worked with internationally known Korean entertainers (film-drama actors, celebrities and more) Noh has the experience to brand and to promote artists in a different way. He believes that creating an environment in which an artist can focus solely on creativity is the short-cut to success.

Entering the craft field in 2017, Noh’s first encounter with craft was the Philadelphia Craft Show, a major craft fair in the United States of America organized jointly with the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Korea was invited for the second time as the guest country. The participation was a huge success as much of the work was sold and collected by the museum. Since then he has worked on many different projects in Germany, China, Hong Kong and Japan.

The time is considerably better now than when Noh first started as interest on Korea craft is greater. He’s outlook is to showcase Korean craft with a universal language, something that can be appreciated by all and going beyond cultural boundaries. He showcases the best artists outside of Korea and he has been doing this at London Craft Week since 2023. This is the second time Soluna Art Group is participating in London Craft Week and following last year’s success we have prepared two exhibitions in Gallery 5, 6 at Cromwell Place.