Hyeokjin Jung is a Korean contemporary craft artist whose practice explores the intersection of traditional Korean lacquer techniques and contemporary sculptural form. His work is grounded in Geumtaechil (金胎漆), a historically rooted method that combines metal substrates with lacquer, which Jung reinterprets through experimental processes and modern technologies to expand the expressive language of craft.

Since 2021, Jung has developed an ongoing body of work centered on the Geumtaechil Vessel series, in which the seed functions as a recurring conceptual and formal motif. More than a symbol of origin, the seed embodies potentiality, cyclical time, and latent vitality. Through gently swelling volumes and restrained organic forms, Jung translates this primordial energy into sculptural objects that exist in a suspended state—poised between containment and emergence, stillness and growth.

Material contrast plays a central role in his practice. The rigidity of aluminum, shaped through sand casting, enters into dialogue with the depth, warmth, and flexibility of traditional lacquer. Jung further complicates this relationship through the use of Gyochil (絞漆), a technique that introduces layered textures and tactile irregularities, visually evoking the relationship between a seed’s outer shell and its inner core. An experimental use of tofu as a thickening agent reinterprets traditional lacquer processes, generating unexpected surface qualities and chromatic nuance.

Technological innovation is integral to Jung’s methodology. By incorporating 3D printing into the mold-making process for metal casting, he reduces production constraints while expanding formal possibilities, proposing a model in which traditional craft evolves through engagement with contemporary tools rather than remaining fixed in preservation.

Jung’s work has been widely exhibited in Korea and internationally, including the Cheongju Craft Biennale, Revelations Biennale at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Paris, ASIAF in Seoul, and international exchange exhibitions in Central Asia. His practice has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Grand Prize at the Cheongju Craft Biennale Competition (2025) and multiple honors from national and regional craft competitions.

Through a refined balance of material experimentation, symbolic form, and contemplative presence, Hyeokjin Jung’s work positions craft as a critical site for reflecting on the relationship between tradition and technology, nature and humanity, and the cycles of life and transformation.