2020 EDGE - Eunbi Cho
Courtesy of Eunbi Cho
Much like the clay that she works with, she’s evolved from fragile to durable as she’s honed her craft.
From her new studio in Pasadena, Eunbi Cho is focused on creating new work in 2020. She is best known for creating modern objects for play; delicate but hardened, graceful but cheeky (like the knuckle rings which she insists are part of a city girl’s survival kit). All in all, unexpected, just like Cho. She is the embodiment of what makes LA ground zero for creative talent.
Like so many, Cho came to LA in search of herself. While she originally thought she might mount her own fashion line and started designing leather goods, a chance studio assistant gig with Ben Medansky changed the course of her creative evolution. Once she found clay, she never looked back.
Born in the Heartland, the Hoosier State, while her father was an exchange student, her family moved back to South Korea. But years later, the family moved to Belgium for several years, an experience that would turn out to be formative for this young artist.
“I think that’s when I sort of went down a different path than other people and realized my creative aspirations.”
Born into a traditional Korean family, she was expected to settle down into a life of domesticity after university. After a brief stint working for a high fashion brand in Korean, and later a fashion production position, she realized that the corporate life was not for her. She also realized that her family was not going to meet her halfway in their expectations, and decided it was time to make the move to LA.
Her signature style is playful, curious, and technically surprising. From miniature cityscapes like the installations she created for the Pacific Design Center, to whistles, donuts, and dumplings, as well as geometrically surprising vessels, lanterns, and even ceramic wall hooks, Cho has mastered her medium and continues to find new ways of expressing her creativity. She’s currently working on a holiday collection and practices out of a studio that she shares with her boyfriend, a welder, in Pasadena now.
When asked about her absolute ideal commission, Cho replied, “I am thinking perhaps I would consider selling my soul to do a whole wall or room made entirely of my custom ceramic tiles and objets.”
Eunbi Cho will accept the EDGE award on Thursday, September 24 at the LA Design Festival Awards Night, live via Zoom. Tune in and stay for the Design Block Party following the awards.
Learn more about Eunbi Cho in this insightful interview in Amadeus Magazine. And watch this video by Carlos Medina.
