Junwon Jung

Sitting at the boundary between object and ornament, jewellery and sculpture, Junwon Jung’s work illustrates his preoccupation with form and function. At first glance, his pieces are objects without obvious function, flawlessly formed. Lift the lid, though, or turn the object over, and new possibilities are revealed. A steel pin, a slate ring, boxes that become brooches. The function is no longer simply that of an object and it is this blurring of identity which most intrigues him.

Born in Sang-Ju in Korea in 1978, Junwon Jung first studied at Kookmin University in Seoul. In 2010 he moved to Germany to study under Otto Künzli and then Karen Pontoppidan at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich. He has won numerous awards, including the Friedrich Becker Prize 2020 and the Herbert Hofmann Prize at Schmuck 2019. His work is exhibited internationally and features in collections such as the Marzee Collection and the Danner Foundation in Munich.