DAHYEON YOO

In a short time, Dahyeon Yoo, the Seoul-based leather weaver, has achieved mastery in a kind of leather craft that she pioneered utilizing ancient techniques. Her exquisite jewel-like leather boxes have their technical origins in Korean rice straw Folk crafts of the Joseon period and their form in the modern era for which Yoo has designed them. In addition to her leather work, she also crafts other finely constructed folk objects like hand brooms utilizing traditional plant fibers, like rice straw, ramie, and hemp. She operates her workshop under the brand name Debaroun, which is a portmanteau of the word deba, meaning “to follow a ray of light in the darkness” in a Korean minority language, and roun, meaning “having the quality of.” The name reflects her commitment to slowly crafting original pieces that embody her identity. A single piece might take the artist anywhere from a single day to one month to complete. Yoo’s work was shortlisted for the Loewe Craft Prize last year.