Humans of Jeju

He designs and fabricates furniture at his "Yang Woong-Geol Furniture Studio". He spent his teen years b-boying before his fateful  encounter with woodcraft in the military. Although both b-boying and wood crafting gave him joy and happiness, he chose woodcraft for a better future. Woodcraft training led him to develop a passion for furniture design. So, he entered Kaywon University of Art an...

She was captivated by a TV documentary about Jeju Haenyeo and moved to Jejudo island without a solid plan. She settled down in a town called "Jeo-Ji" and established a cultural center called "the adventures of  a castaway" ("탐라표류기" in Korean). She has developed various cultural and art programs since then. While serving as a program coordinator for the center, she discovered eco-friendly...

He grew up watching his father who was a lifelong stonemason building stone walls. When he was young, he was not interested in an inch of his father's job. But, there was a moment when he jumped into the world of stone like fate. Although he majored in arts in college, he came to learn some skills of building stone walls in The Museum of Bonsai Art(The sprited Garden) and The Dumoak Gallery and ju...

He runs a woodcraft shop called Woodbien in the remote town of Gosan which is located in the west end of Jejudo island. Woodbien named from a combination of the French word for good, bien and the English word wood. He is determined to craft Long-lasting and good quality wooden products to live up to his shop name. He designs and craft every product on his own. When he has time to spare, he directs...

She is the operator of the one and only short film cinema on Jeju Island. She works to inform people of the charm that short independent films give people in giving a lot of inspiration in a short period of time. Right now, there is an actual cinema next to the underground parking lot of a building, but before when there was no actual space, the cinema went to you wherever around Jeju Island and e...

For a long time, he has been in the fashion industry. While searching for the root of the work that he loves, he felt a desire to grow ‘cotton’ which is the raw material of clothing, and currently cultivates it in the Andoek-myeon area of Jeju Island. Dreaming of making his way into the global market with clothing with his own stories, he designs and makes clothes using the materials that he grows...

Painter Lee Myeongbok majored in Western painting at Chung-Ang University College of Art. Working as a computer graphic designer at MBC and working as a painter at the same time, he left everything behind and moved to Jeju Island to solely focus on painting. In order to paint Jeju Island, he had to first study about the Island. Overcoming the barriers and enduring the struggle, in result, he was a...

Hong Lin, who was a chemist, one day fell in love with the scenery of islands and decided to take pictures. By chance, being assigned to a branch photo studio in Jeju, her life of roaming around was able to find a place to settle down on Jeju Island. While planning an exhibition and holding a flea market with artists at Jeoji Art Village, she met a man who draws and even got married. The couple se...

For 10 years, she worked as an IT developer & planner. Starting her second life in Jeju, she met a turning point in her life. Succeeding with the ‘100 Won Project’ that her husband had proposed to her, she started a work introducing and selling delicious foods of Jeju. The ‘100 Won Project’, for her who has worked in office upto now, was a mission that taught her a different way of life by cre...

The stationery store that Kim Mi-hye runs is located in a back alley of Jeju City original downtown and sells stationery products that have designs made from the past or have been around us for a long period of time. Kim Mi-hye, who has an introverted and calm personality, worked at a company for 10 years resigned from her work and moved down to Jeju in order to create a space of her dream. Redisc...

A paper artist who goes by the name ‘Lena’. She started her career with a job teaching children. While teaching, wanting to make fun classes for children, she studied origami and fell in love with paper to learn about the world of paper art. Moving to Jeju Island with the thought, ‘Let’s do what I like in a place I like’, let’s listen to the story artist Lena shared about the path of paper art she...

A girl who was afraid of standing out growing up has now become a young woman who creates environmental documentary film about the reality of Jeju. In the context of development and preservation of Jeju Island, she captured scenes by questioning ‘Where are we going?” Her film titled ‘Where We Go’ has been invited to the 23rd Jeju Women’s Film Festival and will be shown in various places both domes...

Kim Dong-yeon worked in Seoul as a commercial photographer for 9 years and when he turned 30, he moved to live on Jeju Island. Deciding to move to Jeju in search for ‘the happiness he pursues’, he fell in love with the ‘Noji Culture (Outside Culture)’ of Jeju and along with local residents is creating fun projects to enjoy. Enjoying the nature of Jeju from time to time, he is living on the Island...

Kim Jihwan, who majored in art at university, worked as a newspaper reporter and moved to Jeju Island with his family 9 years ago. In Jeju, collecting sea waste and creating artwork with them has been a hobby for the artist and with those works he has held more than 20 solo exhibitions. Currently, working as an environmental artist, an educator, and an upcycler, he has continued to work with Jeju...

Hyun Il-yeon, who was born in Yanji, China, one day decided to travel Jeju Island after she became physically and mentally exhausted from her career living in many places such as Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and Busan. Gaining courage from people who live freely, she lived working as a staff at a guesthouse in Jeju and went on a travel to Bali and India where she first got in touch with yoga. Hyun Il...

After working as a nurse for 17 years, Lee Jin moved to Jeju Island and is currently running a bookstore plus café that specializes in picture books in Seogwang-ri village of Aewol area and Gwangnyeong-ri village of Andeok area with her husband. She made her debut as a picture book author with a book she created through her childhood memories of living on an island called ‘Narodo Island’, and thro...

Song Yumi, who was born in Ulsan and lived in Daegu, decided to start her second phase in life on Jeju Island with her husband after his retirement. Having to major Korean painting, Song Yumi runs a natural dye workshop along with accommodation in Sagye-ri village where Sanbangsan Mountain can be seen. Let’s listen to her story of living in Jeju with a passion for natural dye.

Kang Seungcheol, a ceramist who grew up in Jeju and played with Jeju clay since he was a child, fell in love with pottery in university and has worked on Jeju pottery for 20 years now. Researching on sustainable ways to keep the Jeju traditional culture of Jeju pottery alive, he continuously makes efforts to make modern Jeju pottery. Let’s listen to ceramist Kang Seungcheol’s love for Jeju pottery...

Author and Illustrator Shin Hyun-ah, who was selected as the 2010 Bologna Illustrator of the Year, has published two books with stories about ‘Cats’. Receiving love from many readers who enjoy her picture book essay, and being a fan of BTS, recently she has gathered other picture book authors who are fans of BTS to open an exhibition about BTS. Let’s listen to the story of her life and work on Jej...

Born in ‘Deoksuri’, a village that creates Korean traditional caldron, director Kang Myung-eon considers about how we can preserve and develop Seogwipo culture. Let’s listen about the intangible cultural assets of Deoksuri and Seogwipo culture that he shares.

Working day and night, Yangmi Jeong and her husband in their mid-30s, decided to do a month stay in Jeju and through it learned the joy of slowness. Starting their second life on Jeju Island, they opened a small ‘travel shop’ in the small village of Jongdal-ri in Jeju. Now, moving to Taeheung-ri village and running a travel shop full of objects containing memories of the travel that the couple exp...

Growing up in California, when Jun Lee first visited Jeju Island, he could not believe there was such a place here in Korea. Living on Jeju Island for 9 years now, he is enjoying the life on the Island by making music and playing in local gigs at various venues, concerts, and festivals. Let’s listen to Jun Lee’s life of living as a musician in Jeju nature.

From a childhood experience, CEO Jeryang Ko has lived feeling sorry for nature and the living things around us and has been interest in the ‘ecological environment’ throughout her life. Even before coming to the era of where the need for environment is a must, she went directly into the villages and pondered with the residents about how they can preserve and protect Jeju nature by becoming ‘ecolog...

While working in the field of filming, 12 years ago director Hyeong-mook Lim came to Jeju and was able to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a nature documentary director. By chance, he came to know about the world of various creatures living in the intertidal zone of Jeju Island, and came to produce the documentary ‘The Tide Pool: Where the Ocean Begin’. Let’s listen about the Jeju’s unique...

After 32 years of researching at National Forest Science Research Institute and serving as the director of Seogwipo Subtropical Forest Research Institute, Dr. Chansu Kim retired and now works as director of Hallasan Ecological Research Institute. Having spent all his life researching Jeju plantation, today he shares with us the interesting stories about the Hallasan Mountain’s characteristics, the...