Humans of Jeju

Based in Sagye, Jeju, Minsu Cho runs SOLV Studio and teaches barre classes there. She first discovered barre while attending college in the United States, and after returning to Korea, she completed instructor training and certification and began teaching professionally. Through barre, which combines elements of ballet, Pilates, and strength training, she focuses not only on physical strength but also on helping people improve their mood and energy. After getting married, she moved to Jeju in search of a life closer to nature and later opened SOLV Studio near Sanbangsan in Sagye. Today, the studio has become a space where Korean and international members exercise together and connect naturally.

Hana Jang has been living in Jeju since 2018, working in both art education and as a haenyeo. She teaches students at an art studio near the Global Education City, helping them develop their art portfolios and prepare for their future studies, while also working as a haenyeo in Daepo-dong for the third year. She studied Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design and lived in the United States for about 16 years before settling in Jeju. Although she was once afraid of the sea and could not swim, she gradually became comfortable in the water, attended haenyeo school, and eventually became a working haenyeo. Today, she continues to bring art, education, and the ocean together in her life in Jeju.

Drawing on his experience as a photographer, Jisol Jung runs ODUJEJ, a Jeju-based design brand. The name ODUJEJ comes from spelling “JEJUDO” backwards, and the brand creates everyday objects and projects that offer a slightly unfamiliar view of familiar Jeju. Through subjects such as Jeju pottery, dongjaseok, and stone, ODUJEJ reinterprets the island’s objects and culture from a new perspective and introduces them both in Korea and abroad. Through ODUJEJ, he hopes to create a “Small Jeju Museum” that holds the small and personal stories of Jeju.

In an old mill in Sehwa-ri, Gujwa-eup, Jeju, three generations — grandmother, aunt, and granddaughter — work together to make local Jeju food. The family mill, which has been running since 1982, has grown into today’s Sehwa Mill, while the wish to make tteok, or Korean rice cakes, easier to enjoy as everyday desserts became the starting point of RICE NICE. At RICE NICE, they make rice cakes for gifts, holidays, and casual desserts, including cheddar cheese seolgi and sweet potato chalbbang, while also offering Jeju’s traditional gireum-tteok as frozen dough that can be easily cooked at home. At Sehwa Mill, they reintroduce older Jeju foods in a more contemporary way, starting with borigaeyeok, a Jeju-style grain powder made with barley and beans. More recently, under the name Sehwa Grocery, Kang has been growing the brand from a Jeju-based food business into a broader grocery brand that shares good local food with more people.

Based in Moseulpo, Jeju, Doyeon Park runs Sanhoyo and creates ceramic works using Jeju clay and seashells from the island’s sea.

The discarded shells collected from haenyeo and local restaurants are washed, dried, and used as ceramic materials, giving new purpose to what was once thrown away.

A story about leftover shells once being used to make buttons in Moseulpo became a point of connection between the memory of this seaside village and Park’s work.

One of Park’s signature works, the Half Moon Jar, is a personal reinterpretation of the traditional moon jar, changing with light, time, and the viewer’s perspective.

Recently, Park has been preparing a new Sanhoyo studio where people can experience Jeju’s materials and culture more closely.

After meeting in Paris and becoming a married couple, Misun Song and Ceng Hong Law moved to Jeju with their family, where they now run Jeju Bao Club. Misun studied natural language processing in Paris and worked as a project manager before launching and operating her own children’s play mat brand in Europe. Born and raised in Paris, Ceng Hong worked for a French luxury fashion brand for ten years before moving to Jeju. At Jeju Bao Club, they serve handmade bao alongside Hong Kong-inspired dishes such as char siu pork, dongpo pork, mango sago, and egg tarts. They also incorporate local ingredients, including Jeju pork and Hallabong citrus, while shaping the restaurant around a lifestyle that allows them to prioritize time with their family.

Gavin and Jinha first met in Ireland, spent time between Ireland and Korea, and eventually settled in Jeju. Gavin studied anthropology and now runs an online English reading group, where people read books together and share conversations. Jinha worked in PR, marketing, and film photography in Seoul, and after moving to Jeju, she has mainly worked in accommodation content marketing. She is currently in charge of the management and marketing of a newly opened stay. While continuing their own work in Jeju, the two are also thinking together about English book clubs, content work, and new cultural projects they could create on the island, such as a book festival connecting writers from Ireland and Korea.

Based in Jeju, Moon Singi works in illustration and design, while also expanding his practice through painting, writing, and travel. After studying Western painting, he has worked across publishing, illustration, and graphic design, and has also participated in guidebook projects on Okinawa and Spain. His experience of being born and raised in Jeju has led to his interest in islands and island people, which he has explored through his fictional island project, Arkaia. Recently, he has been teaching in the Department of Design at Jeju National University, while also taking an interest in new technologies and media such as AI. Drawing from the landscapes, people, climate, and local stories he encounters through travel and everyday life, he continues to develop his own visual language.

Park Keun Ju works with photography in Jeju and is currently continuing a color-field abstract series on buildings under the theme of “reality and ideal.”

He studied photography at university, and began his first personal project after a volunteer trip to Madagascar in 2008, which led him to pursue his path as an artist. Since moving to Jeju in 2017,

he has photographed landscapes, buildings, and people from behind.

His work has been introduced overseas through Saatchi Art, and he presented his Romantic Melancholy series in an exhibition in Germany.

He has also expanded his photography practice through local projects, including a Jongdal-ri village booklet project and photography classes with children in Jeju.