Lee Songam

이송암

Lee Songam studied ceramics at Kookmin University in Seoul, completing a BFA in 2015 and an MFA in 2017. He works from Icheon-si, in Gyeonggi-do — one of Korea's most historically significant ceramic cities, known for its Joseon-era celadon and white porcelain traditions. His practice departs from that heritage not in opposition but in direction: where traditional Korean ceramics pursued refinement of surface, Lee Songam pursues depth of form.

His works are built on the tension between two forces: the irregularity of the body, and the consistency of black. The forms he makes are atypical — asymmetric, weighted unevenly, departing from the round and the contained. They do not resolve into comfort. Instead, they hold something: the psychological register of black, which Lee Songam understands as a carrier of weight, mystery, solitude, and silence. These qualities correspond to states he finds in his own inner consciousness, and it is that correspondence that the work attempts to make visible.

The process is one of self-expression in its most direct sense — not self-portraiture, but the outward form of internal energy. Each piece discovers something rather than demonstrates it: the form emerges from the material rather than being imposed upon it. The result is work that is both sculptural and intimate, object-like and felt.

Lee Songam has exhibited internationally through hancollection in London (including London Collect Craft Week), at MAISON & OBJET in Paris, and across galleries in Seoul, Busan, Daejeon, and Taiwan. His work is held in the collections of the Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Lee Songam, Korean ceramist, black ceramic sculpture, Icheon, Magna Gallery Paris

Collections & Awards


Gyeonggi Ceramic Museum, Gyeonggi-province

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Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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Korea Pottery Competition Gold Medal

2013


Beautiful Korean Ceramic Competition Special Edition

2014


Artist's words

“My work begins with the form — atypical, asymmetric, departing from the expected. These shapes are not planned so much as discovered: what emerges from the material is an expression of something internal, a spontaneous release of energy that I cannot fully account for in advance.

Black is not a surface choice. It is the carrier of what I am trying to say — weight, mystery, solitude, silence. These are not abstract qualities. They correspond to real states in my own inner life, and the work is my attempt to make that correspondence visible. A piece succeeds when the visual and the intrinsic meet — when what you see and what you feel are the same thing.”

A selection of Lee Songam’s current works

Black Vase III by Lee Songam
€200.00

A compact, hexagonal vase with a rim that refuses to sit level — it rises and falls unevenly around the opening, like a wave frozen mid-motion. The body below is otherwise calm and faceted, its stillness set against the restlessness of the mouth. Currently sold out.

Material: Mixed clay

Dimensions: 19.0 × 8.5 × 8.5 cm

Year: 2026

Black Vase II by Lee Songam
€800.00

A sculptural vase built around a single gesture of torsion: a narrow neck twists into a wider, hexagonal-faceted body below. Two sinuous seams trace that movement down the surface, dividing the piece into shifting planes of light and shadow. At 33 cm, Vase II is among the most physically dramatic pieces in the collection.

Material: Mixed clay

Dimensions: 33.0 × 16.0 × 16.0 cm

Year: 2026

Black Vase VIII by Lee Songam
€200.00

A compact, wide-shouldered vase closely related to Vase VII, its surface marked by a single wavy seam that curves from the narrow mouth down to the hexagonal foot. At 14 cm, it is one of the smaller vessels in the collection, dense and rounded in the hand.

Material: Mixed clay

Dimensions: 14.0 × 12.5 × 12.5 cm

Year: 2026

Recent exhibitions


21 cups of 展 / ART SPACE LEE GALLERY / Busan

2026

Everything Everywhere Everyone / chinchinpottery, Taiwan

2026


London Collect, Craft Week/hancollection/ London

2025

2023


Queen's Gift / Art Center Ku / Daejeon


A SENSORY AWAKENING / hancollection/ London

2022