Yuri Na (Korea) has taught metal crafts and jewelry design at Keimyung University for over ten years. She earned a Doctor of Arts degree from Aalto University in Finland, where she also operated a jewelry studio. Her time in Finland deeply influenced her practice, cultivating a sustained attentiveness to nature and its quiet structures.
Centered on the theme Before Being, Na’s work investigates the essence of existence through ideas of transformation, relationality, and organic harmony. She explores these concepts through the forms of seeds and natural roots, dried and bleached pepe cones that symbolize origins and genesis. In her jewelry, roots represent inner essences, unseen forces, and the source of being. Her pieces combine hand-cut roots with hand-painted surfaces inspired by color-field painting and natural hues, alongside brass-wire seeds finished with resin, resulting in contemplative works that reflect on emergence and becoming.
