Gyungju Chyon
Gyungju Chyon’s work focuses on relationships between designed things and environments through engaging natural phenomena and exploring materialities. She is interested in delving beyond technological performance, seeking deeper and meaningful connections between things, environment and people for our health, well-being, and ecological living. Through her design studio Little Wonder, partnered with Dr. John Sadar, she interpolates between art, installations and product design. Little Wonder has collaborated with international companies such as Rosenthal (DEU), Interface (USA), Duravit (DEU), Emotis (FRA), and Lucifer Lighting (USA). Her work has been globally exhibited in venues in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, and has been published both in design magazines such as I.D, Metropolis and Domus, and academic publications through conferences, journals and books.
Prior to joining Spatial Design at Monash in Melbourne, she was an assistant Professor of MFA Industrial Design and BFA Product Design at Parsons School of Design in New York. She earned her PhD at RMIT University in Melbourne, an MA in furniture and interior architecture at Aalto University in Helsinki, and a BA in industrial design at Hongik University in Seoul.
She previously served on the board of directors for Craft, promoting craft and design culture within Victoria, Australia, and was the director of Melbourne Movement, fostering young Melbourne designers by annually exhibiting their work at Salone Del Mobile in Milan. She has lived and worked in New York, Seoul, Helsinki, Toronto, Philadelphia, and Melbourne.
Research Interest
Gyungju’s practice-based research focuses on heightening the ephemeral, sensorial relationship between materials and environmental elements such as light and air. Through an experimental approach with a breadth of materials – from sunlight to textile, from fog to E.coli, from baking cup to fibre optic, from algae to ceramic, from mycelium to plastic – her work investigates ways in which a designer/maker being attentive and works with the interrelationship of materials and environments and bringing forth animate quality of materials.