Jewelry That Began With a Microorganism

Led by its two directors, Yoon Kwanghyo and Kim Taeyoung, MMWD renders the forms of microorganisms in 3D printing, resin, and 100 percent hand painting, then sets them on the body. Anemone in the Water, a first collection that resembles creatures of the water, appeared on the cover of aespa's Supernova just three months after it was unveiled. Since then, from Taemin, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, and Stray Kids to BIBI's recent headpiece, their life forms have grown into scene after scene of K-pop visuals.

A lamp modeled on cell division, a pair of rings joined by magnets: the work moves back and forth between jewelry and objet. Every piece is shaped by hand only after it is ordered. Not mass production, but a process that creates organisms that differ one by one. The forms are borrowed from nature, but the results are born entirely from human fingertips.

They hope art will seep in anywhere outside the gallery, and so their slogan is We are everywhere. Like microorganisms, everywhere. These small life forms growing on bodies, on stages, in everyday life are now spreading beyond the K-pop scene into wider territory. Perhaps one of these organisms will soon grow on your body, too.