Lee Tae-hoon’s ‘Nocturne of a Blue Night in the Fog’ wins second Yuriji Craft Award

A rounded glass sculpture that evokes a blue night under fog has won the second Yuriji Craft Award.

Seoul Museum of Craft Art announced the result on Aug. 31 and held an awards ceremony in Seoul's Anguk-dong, attended by jury chairman Kim Hong-nam, a former director of the National Museum of Korea, and other figures from the craft world.

Lee Tae-hoon's winning work, "Nocturne of a Blue Night in the Fog," depicts the scene through a spherical glass form. Lee used blowing, a technique that involves blowing air into glass melted at high temperatures. The museum said the repeated actions and traces of time are reflected in the piece.

Kim praised Lee's original use of the technique, saying the blue coloring and curved form work together to create a lyrical atmosphere and give the work a high level of artistic completion.

The award honors the late Yuriji, a first-generation master of modern Korean craft who lived from 1945 to 2013. Seoul created the prize in 2023. The museum selected Lee's work from 128 submissions after preliminary document screening and a second review of the works. The winner and 19 other finalists will be displayed in Building 1 of the museum from Sept. 1 through Oct. 11.

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He used the blowing technique in an original way, bringing the blue color and curved form together to create a lyrical atmosphere. It is a work of outstanding artistic completion.