Sae-Won Lee

Sae-Won Lee is an East London based maker that enjoys working with multiple mediums. She uses clay, wood, tile and metals to create a range of different artwork from ceramics and mosaics to bespoke tables and feature walls. Sae-Won set-up Studio U in 2018 in order to concentrate on clay as a medium for artistic exploration.  She is very interested in giving abandoned items a second lease of life through up-cycling and passionately believes in sustainable living.

"I create because it makes me feel alive and alert in my thoughts" - Sae-Won Lee

Leaving home

Sae-Won was born in Seoul, South Korea and came to London in 2002. She arrived in London during the last leg of the Japan-Korea World Cup to spend one year as a volunteer with Thames Reach, a charity that supported the homeless. With England being a great footballing nation, it was a wonderful time to be in London. Sae-won was able to use the World Cup as a conversation starter at the homeless hostel when she had no idea what to expect or how to be in such a social situation. Her year of voluntary work had a profound impact on her and she decided to become a social worker in the UK.   

Education  

Abandoning a Bachelors in English Literature that she was pursuing in Seoul, Sae-won decided to train as a social worker at Goldsmiths College, London in 2004. Sae-won was one of the very few Koreans, if not the only one, to come to the UK to study social work, rather than the more financially lucrative subjects of business, finance and politics. She recognised that the UK's social welfare system was much more established and advanced compared to her home country, where the welfare system was at its infancy. Sae-won desired to return to Korea someday and use her experience to influence social welfare policy there. This led her to undertake further academic study in Public Policy and Management at Birkbeck College, London.  

Social work

Sae-Won went on to spend six years as a social worker for the London borough of Southwark, one of the most socially and economically diverse boroughs in London. Her main area of work was with adults with physical disabilities. Her practice covered a vast number of medical conditions including cancer and many neurological conditions. Her role also involved dealing with the complexities created by social issues that concerned her clients. Matters relating to housing, client finances and family breakdowns became part and parcel of her role. 

Sae-Won later developed a particular interest in End of Life Care (palliative care) due to the nature of the medical conditions many of her clients faced. It was a great privilege for Sae-Won to have met so many different people as a social worker and to have been allowed to enter their very private lives at times of crisis. Her experiences made her humble as a human being and she learnt to appreciate what she had, and to treasure every moment of life.  There were also times when she felt angry and frustrated with the lack of funding and with the bureaucracy that restricted her practice in supporting and defending people’s quality of life when they were already at the margins of society.  

End of an era 

It was sad for Sae-Won to see how social workers were so often scapegoated, like so many other frontline workers, despite the important role they played in society. The emotional burden they faced was often overlooked. Sae-Won began to feel burnt out. After so many years of patting her own back, she could no longer continue and had to make a very difficult decision to resign.  

The main reason behind her leaving social work was the severity of funding cuts under the two terms of Conservative Government, which made it extremely difficult to practice safely. The cuts provided no leeway for preventative care and created a state of constant crisis management that was unsustainable. The statutory aspect of her work was still an area that kept her stimulated and she decided to retrain as a solicitor. In 2014, Sae-Won enrolled at BBP Law School to complete a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL).  

Realisation 

It was after finishing her GDL and whilst applying for a number of training contract positions that she realised that her heart was not fully in law, despite a year of hard work learning hundreds of legal cases. She did not want to dive into another structured form of employment. She had always used her free time to explore the arts and this made her happy. She realised that she may be able to do what makes her happy all the time!  

It was once again not an easy decision to make considering the time and money she had invested in studying law. She would also be leaving behind another so called "sound occupation", something her father had always advised her against and this had always been at the back of her mind. Sae-Won told herself that she would live only once and that the strong force of creativity within her could not be denied! It was something that had been running through her for her entire life. 

Artist's journey  

Sae-Won has always been interested in art; both in admiring other artists’ work as well as creating her own. She feels blessed to be living in London, a global hub for art that provides her with a huge variety of exposure that she cannot get enough of. She is particularly curious about how different mediums combine to create beautiful functional objects. This leads her to hunt for materials in various places that do not necessarily have any associations with art, such as construction sites and car boot sales. 

Her inspiration comes from many different sources: stories, people and their struggles, art, nature, travel, architecture, design and music.  She likes that her functional creations are actually used by people and that they become part of the stories of the people using them. Sae-Won believes that all humans are great storytellers through their very existence. Living life is one big story! 

Sae-Won lives near Victoria Park, Hackney with her husband who has been a great support on her artistic journey. When not working, Sae-Won enjoys classical music, a bit of weekly taiji and cycling on her Brompton.