Hi!
Hi, it’s always awkward introducing myself. I’m Bokeum. I’m a multi disciplinary artist and designer. I was born in Seoul, South Korea, and I'm currently based in Philadelphia. And my background is in textiles and fiber. I make wearables, my practice is around making wearables that nurtures the identities of underrepresented people.
What were your first experiences with textiles?
I always loved sewing and anything textile growing up. I learned how to hand sew when I was four or five, and then I learned how to sew on the machine in middle school. And that was when I first started making clothes. So I had my eighth grade project where I made a collection of clothing and I decided to major in textiles and fiber in college. That's when I started taking it more seriously as my career path. And I would say I started, I was more broadly interested in textile in general, but I had an internship in Italy. It was a fashion internship preparing for Fashion Week. And that's kind of when I really learned the techniques and all the skills and as well as, witnessed what, what happens behind in the fashion industry. I think that's when I got to see that there are different approaches to fashion. And there might be something for me in this industry. So I think it was kind of an eye opening moment I had felt like I was the only one doing this approach. And then being able to see it on a really grand scale. I was like, oh, there are people out there, and people have been doing this for a long time. So yeah, it was really eye opening and made me want to be involved in a bigger scale fashion. Fashion empowers me while I navigate as a queer immigrant woman of color: this is why I am a designer.
Tell me about the role of sustainability in your work.
What's really important to me when it comes to making clothes is the connection to the person who's going to be wearing clothes, and also making sure that the processes I use are as least harmful as possible. So I use a lot of deadstock fabric, and recycled materials. I buy a lot of thrifted clothes and use the fabric of blankets and textiles like that. Also a big part of my practice is natural dyeing. So foraging flowers, dyeing with tumeric and onion skin and avocados. I did a lot of personal research during my thesis for natural dyeing. That's what my thesis was about. After graduating, I went to Korea and met up with natural dyers there and learned their processes there like safflower dying.
You mentioned using clothes to nurture identity, what role does culture play for you?
I think just how simple my forms are, I feel like it really speaks to Korean architecture. I grew up in a very traditional Korean house, hanok. And I think, living in Seoul, you are surrounded by palaces and temples and all this imagery that I wasn’t trying to directly pull from, but it shows up in my work a lot.
I think it's been very rewarding to connect back to seeing how Korean clothes like hanbok are made. I realized after taking a hanbok course after graduating that so many things that I do in my practice that relate back to Korean styles are so intuitive. It just made sense to me, but I didn't know where it was coming from. I learned that it's something that is very common in Korean clothing. So that was a very interesting connection that I had. Yeah, so I feel like in ways it felt like reclaiming my origins and building my own connection to my culture.