Nine years after moving to Jeju, Iris has become someone who tells the island’s stories through color. Her studio, Color Lab Jeju, collects the hues found in the island’s nature—the blue of the sea, the green of the forest, and the earthy brown of volcanic soil—and transforms them into design, education, and everyday creations. For Iris, color is more than what we see; it is a language that connects emotions, memories, people, and nature. She has named the seas where Jeju’s haenyeo, or women divers, work—such as Halmang-badang—and continues to record their colors while guiding others to discover their own shades within nature. Through this work, Color Lab Jeju has come to be known as “a lab of empathy through color.” When someone reads the name of a color they’ve chosen and says, “This feels like my story,” Iris treasures that moment. She continues to record the changing light of Jeju, hoping that its colors will live on in the everyday lives of those who encounter them.