Getting to Know Hyunjong Kim

Seoul-based architect and designer Hyunjong Kim founded Atelier KHJ in 2018 with the intention of exploring and reinterpreting materials in new ways. We spoke with the young designer to find out more about his background and practise

Design Anthology: When did you realise you wanted to be a designer?

Hyunjong Kim: Since childhood I’ve been interested in beautiful objects and creating things. When it came time to consider my future and career, I knew I wanted a job that would allow me to take advantage of my interests, and I had no doubts in my mind that I wanted to be a designer.

Where and what did you study at university?

After graduating from high school in Korea, I went abroad to study to architecture. I completed my bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture at École Spéciale d'Architecture (ESA) in Paris. I’m interested in architecture, photography, fashion, furniture and art, and I wanted to work in all of those fields, but in the end I felt that architecture, being quite a comprehensive field, would allow me to work with and experience all of those disciplines.

When did you start your own design practise, and did you work elsewhere before?

I established my own architectural project and practiced design when I was still at university. Since ESA allowed us to initiate projects based on any ideas we saw fit, I was able to enjoy designing freely and without limitations. I worked as an intern in Paris during the holidays, and when I finished graduate school I worked for several companies. After returning to Korea, I worked for a local company for two years before founding Atelier KHJ in 2018.

Can you tell us the idea behind your Building Project?

The Building Project is a series of creations inspired by the combinations of various shapes, structures and layers that I’ve observed through architecture. Some people may call the pieces sculptures and others may call them structures, but I enjoy the ambiguity in the absence of a clear definition — it allows for many different thoughts and ideas to emerge.

The first object in the Building Project was Building 1, which started from the idea of ​​creating a new form with a simultaneously uniform and non-uniform approach. Its layers of variously sized columns create a ‘uniform but non-uniform order’. The rest of the works in the Building Project follow this intention and the quality they all have in common is that none of their layers are fixed — they can be moved around to create different shapes based on how they are stacked.

Can you tell us how you first discovered metal and stone and why you’re drawn to working with these materials?

I’m actually very interested in the nature of all materials. Architecture is a collection of many materials and while working as an architect I understood the significance of discovering new materials, finding new ways of expression and applying them to certain shapes. I try to see how even the same material can be expressed in different ways and forms.

Metal is such a common material and it’s fun to be able to express various elements of this single material, like its colour, its appearance when cut with different tools and how it change when exposed to moisture or heat. I actually use metal so much that my friends call me ‘Metal Kim’! Having said that, I’m still really curious about other materials. I've worked with stone before, and I was able to get an in-depth understanding of marble when I was working on the interiors of a marble showroom in Seoul. Marble is made of various colours and textures, and the fact that every piece of marble has a unique pattern is a wonderful feature.

I tend to take a lot of material inspiration from history. I often look at old things with new eyes. If you look at traditional Korean architecture, for example, you see a lot of stone, which was used for both functional and decorative purposes, but reinterpreting these traditional materials in a modern way can lead to awesome new work.

What are you working on now and what’s next for you?

I’m currently preparing for an exhibition at Arumjigi, a cultural foundation in Seoul, set to take place in October this year. The exhibition is themed around floors, so I’m going to show a new reinterpretation of a floor in a design related to the Building Project, meaning it can be collected, stacked or unfolded to transform the shape. I was inspired by traditional hanok architecture for this project, which is why I chose to work with wood.

In addition, we currently have architecture and interior projects underway in Seoul, and I plan to continue the Building Project in preparation for another exhibition in 2021.