Spreading the beauty of ceramic art

▲ Il Huh, President of South Gyeongsang Province Crafts Cooperative

President Huh of the South Gyeongsang Province Crafts Cooperative was a very talented craft boy thanks to the influence of his father who was a wooden vessel maker. He entered a craft high school where he found a great charm of making ceramic works. 

"I visited a museum one day and was charmed by the ancient comb-pattern potteries. It was a fresh shock. Then I said to mayself "This is it!" I majored in ceramics at a vocational college and jumped into the real world of ceramic making after graduation. However, I found the desire to deepen my knowledge in the field and took a relative course at a graduate school in my 50s" says Huh. 

Huh focused on harmony between tradition and modern and poured his ideas in creating unique works. As a result, he has been called from numerous exhibitions home and abroad including France and received a number of prizes including Unification Minister's prize, Culture/Sports/Tourism Minister's prize and Environment Minister's prize. 

Most of his works are teaware and dishware. This is because he wants to make works that can actually be used in our daily lives. 

He was invited as a guest professor from Yanbian University, has taught local students for free and run various ceramic making programs for all walks of life in the local. He also has served as a judge of the National Skills Competition and its South Gyeongsang Province event while serving as the president of the Miryang Craft Association. 

He participates in the Miryang Arirang Festival and the World Noodle Road Festival every year to promote his works. In recognition of his contribution to the industry, he received a citation from the mayor of Miryang City in 2013.

"Traditional ceramics and industrial ceramics have been ignored for a long time due to our prejudice on valuing their cultural and artistic side more than the realistic use in our daily lives. We need to work on this to improve the situation and also the ceramists need to develop their own style and design to prove that the industrial ceramics are as beautiful as the one with cultural and artistic value. In fact, they have additional value called 'function'." 

When asked about his future plan, Huh said "I'm planning a craft art complex project and an art village project where craftsmen study, share and develop their work together."