Sun Kim

Sun Kim focuses on making functional objects which explore the relationship between the traditional and the contemporary. Her latest body of work, a series of geometric vessels, are individually content but also work very well in groups. They form a language of work that Sun has been developing and refining for the last few years and they play with geometry and composition.

Sun's making process involves different techniques such as wheel throwing, hand building and assembling. Her aim is to explore three-dimensionality, emphasizing the senses of volume, tension and expansion within a form.

The inspiration comes from her surroundings: objects and their historical context, architecture, texture, colour, design and nature. They all continually feed her visual language and open new paths of investigation. 

For Sun, making is a personal journey as each piece progresses within the studio. She finds it intriguing how her pots begin to create new narratives for themselves when placed in different settings. The work begins to interact with its new environment taking on a new context.

Sun Kim is Korean, born in Saudi Arabia and raised in Brazil. She currently resides in London.  In 2003, Sun Kim completed her BA Ceramics in New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, USA. Prior to that she completed her BA at the Fundacao Armando Alvares Penteado, Sao Paulo, Brazil.  She has been studio assistant with Edmund de Waal for over 15 years.

Sun's work is part of the permanent collections at the Museum of Northern Ireland, Ireland and the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art, Japan.

Loewe Craft Prize finalist Annie Turner describes Sun as one of the most accomplished ceramicists she had ever come across and, as a long-standing teacher at City Lit as well as being an award-winning artist in her own right, Annie has seen a lot of ceramicists in her time.  It is high praise indeed.

Writing about Sun's work in Ceramic Review, ceramicist and author Edmund de Waal said: "[her work is] poised and confident, hovering on the edge of post-modern quotation without being over self-conscious. When I handled her work it became clear that this was a potter who was preternaturally skilful in both throwing and assembling, and also someone with a passionate determination to make vessels."
Edmund de Waal, Ceramic Review 2007