Soo Joo is a Korean-American artist from the East Coast (Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island). Currently, her studio practice and woodshop is based in Seoul, South Korea.
She has a background in painting and sculpture; she was classically trained in fine art at Sunhwa Arts School in Seoul. She was especially drawn to sculpture, and decided to major in Furniture Design at the Rhode Island School of Design. She combines knowledge on how to build structural 3D objects from her education in industrial design and traditional woodworking, with her classical training in the fine arts, to create furniture and sculpture pieces that are at the same time novel and timeless.
Having grown up connected with nature in suburban New England, she understands the importance of biophilia - our innate human need to feel connected to nature from our evolutionary history within it. Her aesthetic is also greatly influenced by Korean traditional art and design values, which has a long tradition of valuing a harmonious relationship between humans and nature.
"At the basic core of my work is an investigation into how non-living, abstract art and objects can still carry the essence of nature, through material and formal language. Through my work, I develop a new visual language that serves as an alternative to geometry."
In recent years, the benefits of biophilic design (especially within the current urban environment) have become more widely studied and understood. However, methods to actually generate biophilic forms and shapes are still largely understudied. Soo Joo devotes her practice to developing such design methods.
Soo Joo was an artist-in-residence at Anderson Ranch Art Center in 2019, and at Penland School of Craft in 2022. She debuted her collection of biophilic works in South Korea, at the 2023 COEX Craft Trend Fair. Her collection was featured in Elle and Maison Marie Claire Magazine, and exhibited at HPIX Dosan showroom in 2023. Momentum Table was included in the Cheongju Craft Biennial 2023. She is debuting her collection in Europe at Salone Del Mobile, Salone Satellite 2024, and at ICFF in New York in May 2024.