Kang,
the name passed down through the generations.
Woo,
the name given by my grandfather.
Hyon,
the name shared with my siblings.
A life of wit from my mother,
Perseverance from my father,
and keen insight from my grandfather.
About
Who Am I?
Am I an author? No.
Am I a designer? No.
Am I an entrepreneur? No.
Am I an environmental Activist? No.
Am I an artist? No.
Everything is a point.
The sun, the moon, the stars and even people’s minds are like points in the universe. Inside the point, there is a universe. Outside the point, there is another universe.
I am a brush that draws an imaginary line between points.
I create individual points to connect them and make a world inside the world by thinking, writing, drawing, tinkering, planting and questioning.
I am a shape maker.
But I answer the way you want to call me.
Director of Imagination
Rethinking Everyday Things
From silly questions to wise answers
From coincidence to expectation
It requires what I called “Reverse Thinking and Doing,” the ability to constantly navigate ambiguity and flip ideas to act on them for an unexpected solution.
From scrap paper, lunch box lids, liquor bottles, scrap glass to white trails from jets, rethinking the purpose and design of everyday things through the lens of an artist opens new possibilities to create meaningful experiences.
The secret source led me to:
Weave imaginative thoughts and dreams into arts
Transform Nami Island into a success story of a mythical world
Build an imaginative nation on a wilderness of Jeju Island
Keep my mind forever young and silly
Born in 1953, Kang graduated from Hongik University with a degree in industry design. He has worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, planning director, environmentalist before assuming the executive position of Nami Island.
In 1986 he won the grand prize at the UNESCO-sponsored Noma Concours for Picture Book Illustrations, among other awards in Korea and the Czech Republic. He also designed the poster for the 50th Cannes Film Festival.
He continues to pen storybooks as well as host international workshops and other collaborative projects with renowned artists including ``Gaudi’s Ocean’’ authors A. Ramachandran and Tajima Shinji.
through the lense of an artist
Transforming Everyday Objects
Woohyon Kang uniquely rethinks and transforms everyday objects, from scrap paper, lunch box lids, liquor and shampoo bottles, and shards of glass to white airplane trails, into high-end art into stories with meaningful messages.
<Dosirak>
a lunch box lid into a story
<Jeju Black Pig>
Pig Troughs into Lampshades
<Soju Garden>
Liquor Bottles into a Garden
<Sulwhasoo Tree>
Cosmetic Bottles into a light tower
<Sky IRIS>
Sky is a canvas and white trails from jets are brushes
Through the lense of an innovator
Building Cultures for Imagine Nations
Naminara Republic
Woohyon Kang has transformed Nami Island into a success story of mythical proportions with out-of-the-box and environmentally-friendly management ideas. Amazingly enough, these ideas stem simply from the transformation of one simple point. Nami Island, once merely a popular destination for recreational activities, has been renovated into an island where cultural tourism on a global scale is celebrated. Kang writes that it is simply a matter of 'imaginative play' nothing more than point after point becoming a line; line after line making a shape; and one shape after another creating yet another shape.
Nami Island CEO finds inspiration in quirky ideas
"I’m an eccentric,’’ Kang told The Korea Times in an interview last week in his office on Nami. ``I’ve done a lot of things others think might reject as being crazy.’’
The Prospero of Nami Island
Like Prospero, Mr. Kang has been releasing the spirit of Nami Island, and his approach is radical.
Tamnara Republic
Woohyon has taken a new adventure in 2014. The Republic of Korea’s Land of the Imagination: Naminara Republic Nami Island on the island of Jeju, the Tamnara Republic, a land of mystery, a nation of the world – a land of myth, the land of Tamna. This place is cultivated by the diligent work and dedication of nearly 15 people without receiving any external financial sponsorship. The team created this place by saving, recycling and upcycling the limited resources here. He put bio-tourism within the core values in pursuit of creating a sustainable environment where nature, local communicates and visitors can live harmoniously.
We need a single tourism ministry
Tourism is one of the three largest export industries in the world. “Tourism’s employment inducement coefficient is more than twice the manufacturing sector, and it offers a chance to have foreign visitors purchase Korean products,” said President Moon Jae-in at the expanded tourism strategy meeting on April 2 in Incheon.
Collaborative Imagination
Contact me with new business opportunities, art exhibition, speaker requests, media inquiries, and more
