Change of Practice?
Ever-flowing practice
3D printing and ceramics
Ever-flowing practice
3D printing and ceramics
Before Soorin Shin Studio: Wobbly Digital - 3D printing
I founded Wobbly Digital in 2021, just a year after graduating from the Glasgow School of Art. Wobbly Digital was a 3D printing studio where my journey between design and art came together in one place.
I fused organic forms with a contemporary digital twist. I made 3D printed sculptures and a variety of functional objects - earrings, mirrors and vases - inspired by natural elements such as intertwining roots, spiky horns and smooth pebbles. Opposing the cold, sharp-edged digital stereotype, my work embraced curvy, voluptuous and wonky forms. It was here that I started to develop my unique aesthetic, exploring the ambiguous border between the digital and physical worlds.
Through my 3D printed sculptures, I explored nature’s depiction in historical and cultural artefacts, especially those related to women. I started engaging with themes of motherhood, sisterhood and feminism. How can you not start getting into feminism when you research old traditions surrounding women, right? Later down the line, my philosophy and the way I relate to nature collided beautifully with ecofeminism, which has become a core ideal of Studio Soorin Shin. I wrote another journal on ecofeminism, which you can find here.
I founded Wobbly Digital in 2021, just a year after graduating from the Glasgow School of Art. Wobbly Digital was a 3D printing studio where my journey between design and art came together in one place.
I fused organic forms with a contemporary digital twist. I made 3D printed sculptures and a variety of functional objects - earrings, mirrors and vases - inspired by natural elements such as intertwining roots, spiky horns and smooth pebbles. Opposing the cold, sharp-edged digital stereotype, my work embraced curvy, voluptuous and wonky forms. It was here that I started to develop my unique aesthetic, exploring the ambiguous border between the digital and physical worlds.
Through my 3D printed sculptures, I explored nature’s depiction in historical and cultural artefacts, especially those related to women. I started engaging with themes of motherhood, sisterhood and feminism. How can you not start getting into feminism when you research old traditions surrounding women, right? Later down the line, my philosophy and the way I relate to nature collided beautifully with ecofeminism, which has become a core ideal of Studio Soorin Shin. I wrote another journal on ecofeminism, which you can find here.
Breakthrough: Porcelaina 2.0 & 3.0 - Introducing Ceramics
Porcelaina 2.0
In 2023, with support from the Open Fund for Individuals by Creative Scotland, I was able to develop and complete a series of 3D-printed sculptures, Porcelaina 2.0.
Porcelain has endured a long, arduous history; stolen and exoticised from East to West, and often likened to the fallacy of delicate women. Porcelaina 2.0 aims to reclaim the ancient artefact’s identity, informed by my own experiences of microaggressions and Orientalism, and by being pigeonholed because of race and gender.
My aim in this project was to challenge the objectification of the East Asian female body and uphold female empowerment. Three 3D-printed sculptures are shaped after traditional Korean porcelain forms: Maebyeong, Byeong and Hangari. Each Porcelaina is personified through the addition of arms and legs, gesturing together in defiance, resilience and hope. Maebyeong stands stout with her arms wide open to the sky. Byeong gathers her hands in front of her mouth to amplify her voice of disobedience. Hangari stands strong, clenching her fists in a fighting stance.
Keeping sustainability at the core of my practice, the series is made entirely from recycled translucent plastics. LED lighting is placed inside each sculpture, illuminating and highlighting its silhouette and surface details. This light symbolises hope, carrying a message of empowerment and resistance while expanding the work’s sensory and atmospheric qualities.
Porcelaina 2.0
In 2023, with support from the Open Fund for Individuals by Creative Scotland, I was able to develop and complete a series of 3D-printed sculptures, Porcelaina 2.0.
Porcelain has endured a long, arduous history; stolen and exoticised from East to West, and often likened to the fallacy of delicate women. Porcelaina 2.0 aims to reclaim the ancient artefact’s identity, informed by my own experiences of microaggressions and Orientalism, and by being pigeonholed because of race and gender.
My aim in this project was to challenge the objectification of the East Asian female body and uphold female empowerment. Three 3D-printed sculptures are shaped after traditional Korean porcelain forms: Maebyeong, Byeong and Hangari. Each Porcelaina is personified through the addition of arms and legs, gesturing together in defiance, resilience and hope. Maebyeong stands stout with her arms wide open to the sky. Byeong gathers her hands in front of her mouth to amplify her voice of disobedience. Hangari stands strong, clenching her fists in a fighting stance.
Keeping sustainability at the core of my practice, the series is made entirely from recycled translucent plastics. LED lighting is placed inside each sculpture, illuminating and highlighting its silhouette and surface details. This light symbolises hope, carrying a message of empowerment and resistance while expanding the work’s sensory and atmospheric qualities.
Allow the Fear. Allow the Discomfort.
After completing Porcelaina 2.0, some of my friends and fellow artists asked whether I was planning to make these works in actual porcelain. Whenever I was asked that question, I noticed a split second of resistance - a strange sturdiness within myself. Looking back now, I think I felt a certain discomfort because ceramics was something I’d never really tried.
Then one day, inspired by Donna Haraway’s renowned book Staying with the Trouble, I decided to explore something outside my comfort zone. Looking back, it’s difficult to describe exactly what that resistance was. Maybe I was too attached to my identity as this “digital girl”, without realising how much joy and discovery this new direction would bring.
After completing Porcelaina 2.0, some of my friends and fellow artists asked whether I was planning to make these works in actual porcelain. Whenever I was asked that question, I noticed a split second of resistance - a strange sturdiness within myself. Looking back now, I think I felt a certain discomfort because ceramics was something I’d never really tried.
Then one day, inspired by Donna Haraway’s renowned book Staying with the Trouble, I decided to explore something outside my comfort zone. Looking back, it’s difficult to describe exactly what that resistance was. Maybe I was too attached to my identity as this “digital girl”, without realising how much joy and discovery this new direction would bring.
Porcelaina 3.0
And that’s how Porcelaina 3.0 came to be. Building upon my previous 3D-printed sculpture series, Porcelaina 2.0, I began creating a new series of ceramic sculptures: Porcelaina 3.0. It became my first ceramic body of work and marked the beginning of a new stage as Studio Soorin Shin.
Developing the Porcelaina concept through ceramics has strengthened its connection to the original artefacts held in museums. Through mould-making from 3D prints, I’ve slip-cast digital models into ceramic forms, bringing Porcelaina further into fruition.
During my Wobbly Digital era, for around five years, I always aspired to expand my material spectrum. Although I truly enjoyed working with 3D printing as my primary medium, I felt as though I was searching for another layer to solidify my distinctive visual language — one that sits between digital techniques and hands-on making.
Getting into ceramics has been a gift. The process grounds me. It reconnects me with the physical aspect of making. The tactile and visceral quality I’d been seeking for years in my practice finally seems to have found me, and I’m now happily embracing it.
And that’s how Porcelaina 3.0 came to be. Building upon my previous 3D-printed sculpture series, Porcelaina 2.0, I began creating a new series of ceramic sculptures: Porcelaina 3.0. It became my first ceramic body of work and marked the beginning of a new stage as Studio Soorin Shin.
Developing the Porcelaina concept through ceramics has strengthened its connection to the original artefacts held in museums. Through mould-making from 3D prints, I’ve slip-cast digital models into ceramic forms, bringing Porcelaina further into fruition.
During my Wobbly Digital era, for around five years, I always aspired to expand my material spectrum. Although I truly enjoyed working with 3D printing as my primary medium, I felt as though I was searching for another layer to solidify my distinctive visual language — one that sits between digital techniques and hands-on making.
Getting into ceramics has been a gift. The process grounds me. It reconnects me with the physical aspect of making. The tactile and visceral quality I’d been seeking for years in my practice finally seems to have found me, and I’m now happily embracing it.
Ever-Flowing
Perhaps it was the word "change" itself that frightened me. Change is exciting, but it also brings uncertainty. I must have forgotten, for a time, that everything - including myself - is ever-flowing.
It’s so easy to put ourselves into boxes and define ourselves through categories. Through this experience, I feel I’ve learnt a lesson or two about riding the ever-flowing current of life.
Cheesy, but... I guess... "go with the flow". (Not just any flow, though — the flow you’ve consciously chosen to be part of.)
I’ll end this journal with my current favourite meme from Ghost in the Shell.