SPONG
Studio SPONG is a woodworking and furniture-making studio run by Keun Ho Peter Park. It contains all the works generated by Park.
The name of the studio, ‘SPONG’ is originated from the cartoon character ‘Spawn,’ who is the lonely leader of hell with incredible superpowers and such.
Park mainly creates studio furniture and commissioned woodworks. He also designs stationery products, guitars, and sculptural and experimental wooden objects inspired by the human body, nature, and music.
In Feb 2022, Studio SPONG launched its sub-brand, 'HoBaan'; 'Ho(호)' is named after a part of Park's first name, 'Keun Ho.' It also has various meanings in Korean- 'good,' 'wide and broad,' ‘large,’ and, sometimes, 'lake.' 'Baan(반)' means trays and large rounded bowls in Korean craft history.
Studio SPONG in Germantown, Philadelphia, PA (2019)
Park in his studio (2018)
“The beauty of the human body and characteristic forms of various living creatures always inspire me. It naturally leads me to take an interest in organic shapes and to create anthropomorphic forms. I love to explore innovative ways of creating objects based on this motif in various formats. I also explore the sensory experience and sculptural qualities derived from a functional object made out of wood.”
Keun Ho Peter Park
Keun Ho Peter Park(b.1984) is a woodworking artist, studio furniture maker, and educator. He creates anthropomorphic forms of functional objects, furniture, and musical instruments inspired by his personal experience and love of music, and organic forms of nature, such as the beauty of the human body and living creatures.
Park was born in Columbus, Ohio, and grew up in South Korea. He holds a BFA in painting from South Korea’s Kookmin University and an MFA in Woodworking and Furniture Design from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
Park is the recipient of the Smithsonian Craft Show’s ‘First-time Artist Award’ (2022), the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show’s ‘Best in Design Award’ (2019), ‘Wharton Esherick Award: Excellence in Wood’ (2015), the Philadelphia Invitational Furniture Show’s ‘Emerging Artist Award Winner’ (2015), and Windgate resident artist at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
He also has taught workshops about free-form woodcarving and musical instrument making at various art and craft institutions, including Haystack, Penland, Arrowmont, and Peters Valley.
Park currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and presents his works in the US and South Korea. He teaches wood & furniture at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia since 2016.
* For further information on the artist,
please click here.