popcorny unicorny
My work explores how myths, folktales, legends, and ritual objects can shape belief even when there is no rational or scientific explanation behind them.
Throughout my life, I have often found comfort and courage in objects that carried personal or cultural meaning. I did not grow up with one fixed religious belief, but objects such as a statue of the Virgin Mary beside my home or spoons passed down from my late grandparents could still feel protective or emotionally significant. These experiences led me to become interested in folklore, shamanism, totemism, and the ways in which stories can give ordinary objects a sense of power.
In my practice, I use images and narratives associated with myths, folk beliefs, and symbolic creatures to expand the role of furniture beyond convenience and practicality. I am interested in how an object can create emotional stability, hesitation, comfort, protection, or awe through the associations already embedded in its image and story.
Rather than simply illustrating traditional stories, I try to translate their underlying logic into form, material, and bodily experience. A snake can create hesitation and become a form of protection. A mythical creature can become a companion. A damaged piece of wood can become a structure for remembering loss and imagining recovery.
I want to develop these ideas through increasingly detailed and interconnected storytelling. In the future, I hope my works can exist not only as individual objects, but as parts of a larger fictional world built through furniture, images, texts, and publications.
I believe that human needs such as hope, faith, love, comfort, and protection will continue regardless of how technologically advanced society becomes. My work asks how furniture and objects might respond to these emotional needs in ways that ordinary functional design often does not.
For me, everyday life becomes richer when objects are allowed to carry stories.
HANEE SHIN
Seoul, South Korea
+82 10 2790 5974 / +1 (947) 270 5172
@popcorny_unicorny
EDUCATION
2026– M.F.A. in 3D Design, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, US
2022. M.F.A. in Furniture Design, Hongik University, Seoul
Thesis: "Storytelling in Furniture Design: Reinterpreting Folk Narratives of Blessing"
2019 B.F.A. in Woodworking & Furniture Design, Hongik University, Seoul
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
2024-2026 Lecturer, Furniture & Living Design, Kongju National University, Gongju, South Korea
Furniture Drawing and Design Seminar : An undergraduate class on sustainable material usage and conceptualization.
2019-2021 Teaching Assistant, Woodworking & Furniture Design, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea
Assisted in design studio instruction and oversaw safety compliance for woodworking machinery
PUBLICATION & RESEARCH
2025 "Narrative Furniture Design: Analyzing the Myodusa Folktale,"
Journal of the Korean Society of Furniture Design, Vol. 2025, No. Spring
2021 "Furniture Design Methodologies Utilizing Serpentine Iconography,"
Journal of the Korean Society of Furniture Design, Vol. 2021, No. Spring
GRANTS & AWARDS
2026 Selected Artist, K-Art Young Creator Support Program, Arts Council Korea, Seoul, Korea
2025 Grant for Young Artists, Seoul Design Foundation, Seoul
Grant for Young Artists, Incheon Foundation for Arts & Culture, Incheon
2023 Best Young Designer, Korea Design Awards, Design House, Seoul
Grand Prize, BAF Young Artist Competition, K-International Buddhism Expo, Gyeonggi-do
2022 Seoul Selected Young Artist, Seoul International Sculpture Festa 2022, A-Grip, Seoul
Selected Artist for ‘Youth Zip-joong’ Support Program, Youth Zip-joong, Seoul
2019 Excellence Award (Craft & Design), Grand Art Exhibition of Korea, K-Fine Arts Association, Seoul
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 A Tiger Has Entered This Room, Bukchon Hanok Hall, Seoul, Korea
2026 SaloneSatellite(Selected Solo Booth), Salone del Mobile.Milano, Milan, Italy
2025 Is Mr. Kim There?, Saebyeok Sesi Gallery, Incheon
2023 Dr. Haneecorny's Secret Room, Space Kyeol Gallery, Seoul
2024 Seoul Design Festival (Young Designer Invitational Solo Booth), COEX, Seoul
2022 Supy X POPCORNY UNICORNY, AK Plaza Hongdae, Seoul
Popcorny Unicorny: First Solo Exhibition, Danglim Art Museum, Asan
Seoul Interior Design Korea (Invitational Solo Booth), KINTEX, Goyang
2021 Seoul Design Festival (Young Designer Solo Booth), COEX, Seoul
2020 Craft Trend Fair (Creative Workshop Solo Booth), COEX, Seoul
2019 Craft Trend Fair (Creative Workshop Solo Booth), COEX, Seoul
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025. Next Highlight, Seoul Design Foundation, Seoul
Dreaming Society, Sinchon Culture Power Plant, Seoul
The Art Plaza, IBK Bank Headquarters, Seoul
Cheongju Craft Biennale: Black Mountain, Culture Factory, Cheongju
Garden of Creation, DDP (Dongdaemun Design Plaza), Seoul
The Hyundai Maison, The Hyundai Cheongju, Cheongju
The Hyundai Seoul, The Hyundai Seoul, Seoul
2024 80 Canes from the Ashes, Jebi Hanok (Peace Forest), Seoul
KOFURN (Korea Furniture Society Recommended Artist), KINTEX, Goyang
New Face: Korea Design Award, Seochon Lounge, Seoul
2023 Black Land 75,010,925 Pyeong, Woong Gallery, Seoul
The Void Art Show, Kir Seoul, Seoul
Craft: Foam and Pop (Special Exhibition), Songwon Art Center, Seoul
Vivi Dynamic, SASS Gallery (Sindang Art Arcade), Seoul
Space Kyeol arte & segreto, Space Kyeol Gallery, Seoul
2022 Seoul International Sculpture Festa 2022, BEXCO, Busan
Design Art Fair 2022, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul
The Maximalist 001, Craft on the Hill, Seoul
2020 From Material to Object, BKID, Seoul
RESIDENCIES & PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2024 Workshop Participant, Domaine de Boisbuchet, Lessac, France (Supported by Seoul Design Foundation)
2023 Artist-in-Residence(14th), Sindang Art Arcade, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul
2019- Present Founder & Artist, Popcorny Unicorny, Seoul
:Directed an independent studio practice focusing on conceptual art furniture
and material research; oversaw entire fabrication processes from sketching to finishing