Interview with SANG IL JEON

SANG IL JEON ("SIJ") interviewed on Sunday, 31 October.

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

SIJ : EXHIBITION 2021​ MILANO DESIGN WEEK 2021 FUORISALONE ​ ​ 2020 CCDE 2020 Suzhou CHINA (UNESCO Creative Cities Network(UCCN), CCDE Suzhou CHINA, New Crafts Movement) ​MILANO DESIGN WEEK 2020 FUORISALONE ​ ​2019 YOUNG CREATIVE KOREA 2019 (COEX in SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA) ​ 2018 ​YOUNG CREATIVE KOREA-F 2018 (ARA MODERN ART MUSEUM in SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA) YOUTH DESIGN DAY 2018 in OSAKA, JAPAN (The Italian Institute of Culture in Osaka, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) ​​ ​OSAKA DESIGN FUTURE 2018 in GRAND FRONT OSAKA, in OSAKA, JAPAN ​(CHRISTMAS DESIGN AWARD 2018 by designboom) ​ MILANO DESIGN WEEK 2018 FUORISALONE (TORTONA Design District, ASIA DESIGN PAVILION) www.asiadesignmilano.it ​ 2017 ​SEOUL DESIGN FESTIVAL 2017 ​(by 'MONTHLY DESIGN' magazine, COEX in SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA) ​LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 2017 ​(100%design 2017 in OLYMPIA LONDON) ​​ ​ 2014 ​SEOULTECH ID SHOW 2014 ​(GRADUATION SHOW) FEATURED ​​ ​2020 CCDE 2020 Suzhou(CHINA) Arche Inspirations E20(PARIS) ​​ ​ 2019 designboom(MILANO) AD(Architectural Digest) (RUSSIA) 'DESIGNER' Haaretz newspaper(ISRAEL) design mate(RUSSIA) ​​ ​ 2018 designboom(MILANO) the Artling(SINGAPORE) thesignspeaking(MILANO) YOUTH DESIGN DAY 2018 in OSAKA, JAPAN MONTHLY 'DESIGN'(SEOUL) ​​ ​ 2017 SEOUL DESIGN FESTIVAL(SEOUL) 100%design LONDON(LONDON) AWARD ​​ 2021​ A' DESIGN AWARD 2021 IRON WINNER ​​ ​ 2020 CCDE 2020 Suzhou CHINA (UNESCO Creative Cities Network(UCCN), CCDE Suzhou CHINA, New Crafts Movement) Excellent products of 2020 New Crafts Movement ​​​ ASIA DESIGN PRIZE 2020 FINALIST ​​ ​ 2019 ​LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2019 Shortlist candidate, whose submitted works have been nominated ​​ ​ ​2018 CHRISTMAS DESIGN AWARD 2018 by designboom Shortlisted as Top 50 and exhibition in OSAKA DESIGN FUTURE 2018, in Grand Front Osaka in OSAKA, JAPAN, Art scramble ​ ​ WIX STUNNING AWARDS 2018 Finalist ​ ​ 2018 Quanzhou Talent Harbour Project 3D printing innovation and startup competition program (Quanzhou Industrial Design Association, Quanzhou 3D Printing Innovation Strategic Alliance) Shortlisted as Top 50 STUDY ​ ​ 2016 - 2021 Hongik University, Graduate school, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA Industrial Design, School of design Master of Fine Arts A Study of the Non-Contact Self-presentation Personal Identity Design Activities to Help the Adolescents Form Resilience- In the COVID-19 pandemic situation - ​​ ​​ 2007 - 2016 Seoul National University of Science & Technology(SEOULTECH), SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA 서울과학기술대학교 Industrial Design, Dept. of Design Bachelor of Design Easy hub(furniture design), YU.BI.MU.HWAN and E.E.J(disposable product design) AUCTION ​​​ 2021 CATAWIKI ​ ​ COLLECTED ​ ​2020 CCDE Suzhou(CHINA) ​​ 2018 Asia Design Milano(MILANO)

How did you become a designer?

SIJ : I started to learn the art to enter the university having a design major. all started here. In 2007, I first studied design while attending university in Seoul. At that time, product design must have been, of course, mobile phone design was the best trend. I took my first design class on March 2. I was given the first lecture and the first homework. I remember that I could not sleep the whole night, working on my first theme in my design life, 'unification, emphasis' on the '2-D Fundamentals' subject. and on the morning of March 9, I nervously, tremblingly, and stutteringly presented my first work to the professor. When I was in the first grade, I read the books in the university library and understood what design was. I saw a book titled 'Designer tells about Designer' that tells stories of designers who travel to countries and cities around the world every year. As a result, I became proud that a designer is a wonderful person. I went on the first business trip to Europe exactly 10 years later, thanks to the foolish idea that 'Traveling is only for a business trip as a designer. After, enjoyed tourism!' We didn't know anything, but when we drink, we seriously discuss the design with friends. we were most serious than anyone else and it was passionate days. So I was overwhelmed with the desire to do anything well. But it was a time when almost everything did not go as intended. When I joined the study club in our major, I got my first desk on my computer. I first felt happy and alive in my first own space. Throughout the 1st and 2nd grades, I worked hard all night while eating and sleeping in the club room, but nothing has been made whatever I had intended.

What are your priorities, technique and style when designing?

SIJ : Identity as a designer 1. I am a designer who is not better than everyone else. 2. So I do my own design with my unique identity. 3. What I think about design is always 'progressivity'. Evolution is a fundamental attribute of design. Progressivity is a positive attitude to new changes and possibilities, and resistance to the inertia that is blind and natural. A designer is a person with a habit of moving forward. It is the people who have to recognize the present age constantly, have the obligation to be ahead of the times, and have to propose a new future. Some people were confused about me. Sometimes an exclusive people reveal their disgruntle and says, "Why do you do such design?" Then I say, "Why are you so uncomfortable?" ​ Decidedly, I have the identity as 'conceptor'. I define myself as a concept designer who considers thought and philosophy when designing. I am with an identity that I project my ideas and concepts to the object and deal with them. With the message in my design, I aim to inspire society and people and create a better future. A progressive design that we have never been seen before. I aim at a new design that goes beyond the concept of what other people says. In my own words, 'being looks like it is not things of this world' I do not have many things in many ways as a designer, but the one thing which I am confident is the strong identity that leads to self-esteem as I am a designer. There is no talent. There is only an attitude. Because I am stubborn like a firm land, I constantly have to repeat breaking and breaking walls toward the farther places, the higher places, and the unimaginable places, from the limitation of my brain to over the above. After finishing breaking, when I am filled with a feeling of accomplishment like flying the sky I have to go back again. I feel that I have come from breaking walls to the outside but actually, behind my back, I am standing to the walls I made without knowing. To return, I have to break the wall again and destroy it. I have to dig into it again and again. After all, I see what the last kernel is left, and think what to do next. Which design I mainly do? It is important to think about some than to design something. If when you ask, "What designs are you designing?", I just say, "I really do not care about 'what design. I 'just design' when it comes up." If I say this with a long sentence, industrial design is my major in university, so I have worked hard, I like just 'design' regardless of what to do. I work mainly by connecting the idea, the flow of consciousness, the notion (ex - hungry), and the concept (ex - laziness) to the result. However, the format and results of the expression are close to the product design. I design the thing that does not exist, and I also design existing ones. Though there are things that I prefer, I have often used living products and furniture. Above all, I am trying to eat and live while using my identity as a designer.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

SIJ : ​I feel like bliss having the all-world when I come up with a whole new idea. such a moment is fun. Why design is fun? It suits my aptitude. 'Designing what to think'. An act of visualizing and realizing the idea. I like to think about design. Reason 1. 'I make rules', 'I do create'. I enjoy observing thoughts and events I intended through the design become visible phenomena. It is also interesting to watch unexpected interesting things happen. Reason 2. Strangely, every time I see the results of designers who are called 'the best in the world' since I first learned design, I always thought that I would be able to do like them if I try to do so. I do not know why this is so (because I did not know anything at that time). I live with a positive illusion that the idea of being too far and unreal to some can be a reality for me. The happiest and most fortunate in my life is that I can live with this positive attitude. I do not have many things in many ways as a designer, but the one thing which I am confident is the strong identity that leads to self-esteem as I am a designer. There is no talent. There is only an attitude. Because I am stubborn like a firm land, I constantly have to repeat breaking and breaking walls toward the farther places, the higher places, and the unimaginable places, from the limitation of my brain to over the above. After finishing breaking, when I am filled with a feeling of accomplishment like flying the sky I have to go back again. I feel that I have come from breaking walls to the outside but actually, behind my back, I am standing to the walls I made without knowing. To return, I have to break the wall again and destroy it. I have to dig into it again and again. After all, I see what the last kernel is left, and think what to do next.

What particular aspects of your background shaped you as a designer?

SIJ : 2008 and 2009 were the times when there was a lot of practice works. I thought most freely in diverse ways and I looked deeply into the essence of my past, present, and future. It was the freest and leisurely time, so it was the most creative and I freely put many imaginations, ideas and practice works in the air. Now if I have the creativity and imagination of that time, I might be afraid of myself. Because I personally think that it was the best time I had the best condition and the freshest idea. These things were raw without being trimmed and efforts to approach closer to the essence one by one from the beginning. I did not miss all each one while giving great and earnest meaning to the thoughts that seemed to be less useful, the ideas that seemed impossible to realize, the useless afterimages. There was still nothing good, nothing excellent, but I poured my passion happily into what I liked. Since 2008, I have been recording such impressive thoughts, practice works, instant ideas, and inspiring experiences without missing. Spring 2008 was the most decisive year of my life. Because I spent the most useless time, All questions got concluded, all plans got completed, and any worries got no longer meaningful. Also, My training for design has been completely framed and it has been a routine long time. From 2007 to 2011, I strongly had been focusing on my existence and design to find my own identity, values, and visions as a designer, and had started long-term immersion for a long time. Everything was begun in October 2004. I started art to enter university at that time. In 2007, I entered a university and my major was industrial design. The design was fun and I was serious about the design. The design was making rules and creating a reality for a better future. As I became more familiar with design thinking I started long-term immersion into the design for a long time. I asked myself questions and I had a lot of thinking about design. I admired and aspired to the world of design that looked exciting and wonderful. I wanted to become a designer who achieved worldwide achievement by going out into the open sea. And I dreamed that I would have a great life that peaked. I spread out much of awkward but serious thoughts, awkward practice works, and awkward imaginations. I dreamed to color the world with my design and change the world better with my own hands. I did not do much better than others, but I just did it because I love it. Regardless of the area, I opened my mind to what I want to do without the barrier of thought, without the height limit I want to go up. The barrier was always myself, and every time I tried to break myself. As a first-time university student, new experiences in a new place had been great nourishment and growth in my life and design. But it had been the time when almost everything was out of control by my hand. There was a lot of frustration. My 26 years old winter of 2012 was a meaningful season in which my own design became visual results. I could say that to anyone that the result was my own design with my own thoughts and personality. When I saw the results of my efforts over the past few years as visual prints, I felt I have proved myself. ​ In the spring of 2012, when I watched TV, I thought about an idea of 'HERITAGE OF SANG IL' by seeing the 'Heritage of Korean KBS(한국인의 유산 KBS)', which was an ad copy of channel 'KBS'(Korea Broadcasting system). In 2013 I freely started to increase the number of works more and more without stereotyping. And I felt my own design became more specific than before. I designed my official identity design 'HERITAGE OF SANG IL'. The year 2014 was the time of preparing for the graduation exhibition. Designing graduate works 'EASY HUB' and 'YU.BI.MU.HWAN', I recognized many parts that I was missing and rebalanced the lost balance. And I began to develop my own thing more and more by listening to the other people`s feedbacks which was different to my perspective. 2012~2015 It seemed difficult to endure and did not seem to end. With only one strong desire, design, I endured. When designing, I could imagine the future and feel happiness. Ironically, this period became my foundation. So I was able to smile and remember my twenties when I was struggling with myself. It was a time when there was nothing to fail and nothing to be successful. So I went on. KEEP GOING. This is the title of the book I read during my military service. ​ In 2015, I strongly felt that my endless ideas and inspirations were almost running out. I had to squeeze my brain like a mop and thought that principles I set for my own design locked myself into the fence rather. Ironically, I designed the largest quantity at this time. Whatever, I had to change. I entered graduate school in 2016. I pursued a new design that was different from the one I used to do. And there was some possibility. I have a longing for a new design to come to a new age. The rapid changes over the years of the innovation era by Steve Jobs, like the iPod in 2004 and the iPhone in 2007, have also innovated the concept of design. The new coming age demands me strong change too. ​ In October, I had a burnout and felt blocked on the wall completely. And there was still no change in my life. 'Is there tomorrow for me?' I was in loneliness and solitude. And then, in December I decided to keep my mind going again and hold on. ​ From 2007 to 2016, 2016 is the 10th year I have been being in the design. Now all I have to throw away was thrown away. I have abandoned everything that was useless around me. And there seems to be only one kernel left to me. Now it seems that there is not much to lose and nothing to gain greatly. If I get something, I must not lose my initiative and not break it out by my own hand. I still can not explain all the words until now I have told in just a few simple words. 2017. "SANG IL, Just keep going, Go through with it once." One page of life seems to have just passed.

What is your growth path? What are your future plans? What is your dream design project?

SIJ : I aim for 'the classic design'. I want to design the classic design that aims for the timeless value of 'classic design', the highest value. Many designs will disappear and become garbage, but they will be for a long time with a value that will shine forever. The past, present, and future are always connected and constantly communicating with us. The heritage, the result of it, is breathing forever. So I design it with the idea that it will leave timeless value to HERITAGE OF SANG IL. So it is important to design for long life and inspiring design. As the 'present me' records, 'past me' teaches 'future me'. 'Future I' is worried about what 'past me' was trying to tell himself. For new design Beyond the design, we know until now, a new era of design, I effort the role as a new designer.

What is your biggest design work?

SIJ : accumulation establish Above the object, Timeless object. SANG IL`s Design concepts are built up ideas to ideas and these are within history. SANG IL`s product design is constructed shape, function, and humor. SANG IL will show it the visualization via timeline This projcet is 'BUILD UP'. The word that expresses the design of HERITAGE OF SANG IL is 'BUILD UP'. HERITAGE OF SANG IL, is the classic design project, continuously has been being destroyed and rebuilt. The goal of 'BUILD-UP'(2007-2018) project is to visualize 'accumulations' and 'establishment' of HERITAGE OF SANG IL over time from 2007 to 2018. This visualizes the build-up of HERITAGE OF SANG IL's all projects and can show the process in an interesting way. Also, SANG IL releasing a thick book containing all projects of HERTIAGE OF SANG IL, the book powerfully and physically give you the strength and touch from the book`s thickness. You can understand 'BUILD UP' of SANG IL well through Marble Comics, the Periodic Table of the Elements and book 'S, M, L, and LX' (OMA).