Woo Jin Joo\u2019s studio is full of magic. Ceramic green goblin feet line the windowsill, disembodied furry legs jut out of one white wall and, on the table behind where the Korean-Chinese artist sits drinking tea, a headless being dressed in a black coat squats, arms aloft in warning.<\/p>\n
There are also neat racks of colourful thread next to a freehand embroidery machine, the source of this supernatural hoard. This is where Joo creates much of her art<\/a> \u2013 surface embroideries and sculptural 3D creatures inspired by Korean myth, philosophy and the relationship between humans and the natural world.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I use the embroidery machine I feel like I\u2019m painting,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s as if each thread has its own life.\u201d<\/p>\n Formation Study I (detail), 2025, by Woo Jin Joo. Photograph: Robert Chadwick\/Woo Jin Joo<\/p>\n Joo was born and raised in Korea \u2013 mainly by her grandmother \u2013 before moving to the UK 12 years ago to study at Central Saint Martins and then the Royal Academy in London. Swapping east Asia for west Europe started her thinking about how she was shaped by culture and the world around her. \u201cThat transition made me want to explore who I am and how I see things.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2021 she worked out how she wanted to go about it. She embroidered the 10 Daoist symbols of longevity, typically used to wish someone long life, on to an old Ikea bag \u2013 a plastic product that could take up to 1,000 years to decompose.<\/p>\n \u2026 Woo Jin Joo with one of her works Photograph: Jamie Trounce\/courtesy of Cockpit Studios<\/p>\n \u201cIt was that work that made me feel a connection, a way of drawing ideas together to make a transformation that resonated with religious beliefs as well as myth,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Guided by the idea from Korean folklore and shamanism that inanimate objects can become spirited beings called dokkaebi, she looked at the junk discarded in London with fresh eyes. Now she often uses found objects in her work \u2013 a creature with many feet peers out of an old shirt sleeve; a discarded wooden side-table now sprouts a 5ft-tall dokkaebi leg. \u201cI love the idea that the small and mundane have spirit,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe need to realise that the ordinary is special.\u201d<\/p>\n Tireless, by Woo Jin Joo. Photograph: Woo Jin Joo<\/p>\n Joo is part of a new wave of creatives showing that traditional, sometimes archaic, craft can be used to make very modern, joyful work. Makers are not just keeping these skills alive but evolving how they can be used. \u201cI think a lot of makers are very experimental now, craft is no longer just about material knowledge, but about experimenting and playfulness. This means more people are drawn to it,\u201d says Joo.<\/p>\n She is preparing for her first solo show, Bodily Inbetweenness, at London\u2019s Ruup & Form gallery, which opens during Shoreditch Design Week. For this, she explores a new type of spirit, human emotions and how we display them \u2013 a concept that Joo shows through powerful figures, slightly reminiscent of corn dollies but 5ft tall, poking out of the walls. \u201cFor me, a sense of fun always wants to come out, but for some people it\u2019s awkward, it doesn\u2019t fully emerge,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Muddled and Mortal by Woo Jin Joo. Photograph: Woo Jin Joo<\/p>\n The first sculpture in this series \u2013 I Hear Things Existing With Me, a contemplative figure slightly sunken into the wall it leans on \u2013 was one of the standout pieces at London\u2019s Collect Craft Fair in February. Collect\u2019s director, TF Chan, believes that you never forget the first time you see Joo\u2019s work.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Art Weekly<\/p>\n Your weekly art world round-up, sketching out all the biggest stories, scandals and exhibitions<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cMine was a pair of ceramic legs with each toe tipped in glossy red nail varnish,\u201d he says. \u201cIn my view, she embodies the values of contemporary craft: closely bound to the artist\u2019s heritage while accommodating both serious intellectual engagement and sheer delight.\u201d<\/p>\n A detail from Ardour, 2026, by Woo Jin Joo. Photograph: Robert Chadwick\/Woo Jin Joo<\/p>\n Joo loves the widespread interest in Korean culture \u2013 currently encompassing everything from pop to skincare and it is perhaps one of the reasons her work feels so current. \u201cBecause I\u2019m from Chinese as well as Korean heritage it\u2019s been very meaningful to see both cultures celebrated. I think that international attention has meant that, especially within Korea, there\u2019s now more interest in preserving and honouring traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n For Joo, seeing herself as a maker as well as an artist is a point of pride at a time when craftspeople continue to struggle for art world acceptance. \u201cThere is still a hierarchy,\u201d she says. \u201cA lot of fine artists now use craft like ceramic or textiles and that\u2019s seen as part of their knowledge. Whereas if you come from a craft background what you do is rarely considered fine art. It should be free-flowing.\u201d<\/p>\n With another show to prepare for at the Harley Foundation, Nottinghamshire, later this year, Joo has long hours ahead of her in the studio creating her magical creatures, but she relishes that. \u201cI think it\u2019s the trickle of everydayness that really shapes who I am and how I see things. That really is what my work is about.\u201d<\/p>\n Bodily Inbetweenness is at Ruup & Form, London, <\/a>from 11 September to 13 November. Shoreditch Design Week<\/a>, London, runs from 15\u201320 September<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Woo Jin Joo\u2019s studio is full of magic. 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