Lee Jaejun
이재준
Jaejun Lee is a Korean ceramicist based in Cardiff, UK, specialising in porcelain thrown on the wheel. He earned his BFA (2013) and MFA (2018) in Ceramics from Seoul National University, where he also worked as an administrative assistant for the Faculty of Crafts and Design (2016–2018) and taught for Chung-Ang University's Arts & Culture Education Service (2014–2016).
Early in his career he was represented in Seoul by Gallery LVS, showing at the Craft Trend Fair, SOFA Chicago and Collect at the Saatchi Gallery. Since establishing his practice in the UK, he has exhibited at Ceramic Art London every year since 2016 and held solo exhibitions with Beaux Arts Bath, the New Craftsman Gallery in St Ives, Flow Gallery and Contemporary Ceramics in London, and — most recently — The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh. He is now represented by Cavaliero Finn at Collect, and is a Selected Member of the Craft Potters Association (CPA).
Collections & Awards
Finalist, BKV Prize, Germany
2022
'Show Case Award', Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Manchester, UK
2019
'Best Selected Maker', Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, Manchester, UK
2019
Finalist, Talente, Munich, Germany
2016
Artist's perspective
For Lee Jaejun, a good pot has to work in the hand as much as it pleases the eye, and that balance between use and beauty sits at the centre of everything he throws. He works slowly, refining small steps in his process that most people would never notice, convinced that these quiet adjustments are exactly what someone ends up feeling when they pick up one of his pieces. Touch matters to him as much as appearance: the way a surface is finished carries the same weight as its form.
He treats technical mastery as a starting point rather than a display, a way of paying attention rather than a trick to impress. That mindset drives his current body of work: pieces glazed in celadon and fired in reduction, an unpredictable process he uses deliberately, chasing the moment when the glaze looks most alive, just before it settles and cools.
A selection of Lee Jaejun’s current works
Poised Form · 2024
The base version of Jaejun Lee's Poised form: a rounded, upright vessel with a pale mint celadon glaze gathered at the shoulder and released in thin, controlled drips that taper into small points at the base, as if the vessel were standing on the glaze itself. At 18.5 cm, it is the most restrained expression of this form in the group — closest to a simple, balanced silhouette.
Material: Korean porcelain
Dimensions: H 18.5 × W 10.1 cm
Year: 2024
Poised Form · Transformed Ver. · 2025
A pale, almost white-blue take on Jaejun Lee's Poised form. The celadon glaze here is at its lightest and most even, extending further down the body than in other pieces from this group, with only the gentlest trace of drip. Below it, a band of fine, evenly-spaced ridges in the unglazed white porcelain catches the light along its horizontal lines. At 18.1 cm, this Transformed version reworks the standard Poised silhouette into something more slender and controlled.
Material: Korean porcelain
Dimensions: H 18.1 × W 11.4 cm
Year: 2025
Celadon Vessel “Wearing a Hat Form” · Gentle Rise Ver. · 2025
A rounded porcelain vessel crowned with a raised, dome-like form that gives the piece its name. A pale, mist-toned celadon glaze pools at the crown and drains in soft vertical runs down the shoulder, giving way to the bare white porcelain below. Wheel-thrown and fired in gas reduction at Cone 9, each run of glaze is fixed permanently in the kiln, unrepeatable. At 17.4 cm, it is a quiet, self-contained presence.
Material: Korean porcelain
Dimensions: H 17.4 × W 13.0 cm
Year: 2025
Lush Forest Series · Poised · 2024
An elongated, upright vessel from the Lush Forest series, its silhouette narrowing gently from a rounded shoulder to a compact foot. A deeper, more saturated celadon — the darkest tone among Jaejun Lee’s celadon pieces — covers the upper two-thirds of the form, thinning into fine drips as it descends toward the bare white porcelain foot. At 21.4 cm, it is the tallest of this group, standing with the quiet uprightness suggested by its title, Poised.
Material: Korean porcelain
Dimensions: H 21.4 × W 11.6 cm
Year: 2024
Recent exhibitions
Solo exhibition, ‹The Angel's Share›, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2026
Ceramic Art London 2026, Olympia West, London
2026
Collect 2026 ‹Verdant Pulse›, represented by Cavaliero Finn, Somerset House, London
2026
Solo exhibition, ‹Ruach – Breath, Wind, Spirit›, Flow Gallery, London
2025
Solo exhibition, ‹Stillness in Blue›, Otherthings by The Shophouse, Tai Hang, Hong Kong
2025