What pieces or projects have you been working on lately?
I am working on a few projects at the moment. I almost always have a film in progress for School of Life, and that is the case these days.
Recently, I made the official illustration for the Embassy of France in Korea, and I am currently working on the visual identity of an ethical shop in France.
My biggest project recently was directing and animating an entire music video. It is called HBC (from the neighborhood Haebangchon), and the music is by Yangbans. It was a huge challenge, as it was only me, myself and I doing it. It took two months, working seven days a week.
I am also working on an exhibition that I am planning with my husband, who is a composer. This exhibition will display several “dream house” sketches and watercolors according to my own criteria, some very small and some quite big. Six major drawings will be displayed with a QR code linked to a track my husband composed while looking at the piece. Everything will look quite architectural and isometric.
I am also always sketching and always carry a sketchbook in my bag. This has been an ongoing project for four years now. I am also busy with smaller projects in between these three.
What did you learn (or unlearn) while working on it?
I am learning a lot about architecture these days. I have no pretension of claiming that my ideal house sketches are legitimate or even feasible. I am doing it because architecture is what I draw the most, and interior design has always been a strong interest of mine.
But even though I approach it from my perspective as an animator and illustrator, I still want it to be credible and for people to picture themselves in the spaces I am creating. Which means learning things such as the average counter height, a typical door width and what makes a coherent house plan.
What words, ideas or emotions were running through your head?
I am very often thinking about optimization, such as how to give two functions to one piece of furniture. Working on this project makes me feel excited, curious about the future and inspired.
Dream is also a word I have a lot on my mind.
While thinking about a house before starting to sketch it, I often space out in a very abstract way and can see shapes and colors. I hope this more abstract side of my mind will find its way onto paper in this exhibition.
Was there any conversation, film, music or book that found its way into this work?
Not especially, but I do have a few inspirations that probably influence my work. I am thinking about Arm in Arm by Remy Charlip, the drawings for A Room of One’s Own designed by Margarethe Fröhlich, Little Nemo by Winsor McCay, or Kowloon Walled City, for example.
What was the most difficult thing you faced this month in your creative process?
I am feeling really okay about my work. But usually once or twice a year, I run into a huge crisis of “coherence,” if that makes sense.
I need everything I make to look as though it was obviously made by the same person. So I often struggle creatively to make School of Life animations match my sketches or my watercolors.
I feel like I found my way, for now, but who knows in six months?
What is your favourite restaurant and what would you recommend us to have there?
I don’t eat much meat anymore, but when I read “favorite restaurant,” I can’t help thinking immediately of Le Relais de Venise in Paris.
There is only one menu, so just go and see for yourself. The sauce is what will make you want to come back, for sure.
If your life were a movie this month, what would its title be and who would make the soundtrack?
It would be something like The Warmth of the Freezing Morning Calm.
I am in South Korea. It is really freezing outside, but home feels like a warm, cozy pillow observing the frost.
The Korean band Yangbans would make the soundtrack.
Recommend us one or several artists you follow, who inspire you, and tell us what you like most about their work or their way of working.
I love the world of Karlotta Freier. Her relationship with nature feels like magic to me.
I like the minimalism of Kobayashi Chiaki and the simplicity of the lines.
I love the isometric drawings of Harriet Lee Merrion. Architecture like this tends to inspire me a lot.
