About Ji-Young Kim

* Life Story
Ji-Young Kim ( Catholic name, ‘Joanna’) was born into Catholic family. Influenced by her mother who is a well known Han-bok (Korean costume ) designer, Ji-young graduated from the Catholic University of Korea, majored in ‘Clothing & Textiles’, and learned Korean Embroidery and Folk painting at the Traditional Architecture and Craft Academy of Korea. Through this, she got the basic knowledge which is needed for Korean costume and craft design.

She worked as a craft designer for more than 10 years and, at the same time, she organized several group exhibitions and participated in others. She also gave diverse courses which presented Korean costume and the traditional artistry of Korean women, and tried to make this more accessible for the public. Following these experiences, she wrote a book ' The artistry of Korean women' (published in 2000, cultureline ).
In 2002, she accompanied her husband, who decided to work as a researcher in Karolinska Institute, to Stockholm.
Since then, she has spent most of her time designing, and learning European crafts, and has tried to harmonize her traditional knowledge with modern design techniques. She showed some of her works at the ’2005 Sollentuna Craft fair’ in Sweden. Since she met a renowned icon painter- Alexander Derive on 2006, she has been painting icons.

After return to Korea on September 2008, she has been working as a freelancer designer and, at the same time, keeps working to make' the 103 Korean saint's ' more accessible for the public. (URL: www.pojagi.com)

* Brief personal record