6x4

6x4 Dealing with functional objects. 6x4 is a conceptual design label. The name describes the dimensions of the label: 6cm by 4cm.

A large range of functional objects are made under the name. The label began with the making of one-off clothing pieces and remodelled garments, but has since expanded into the making of shoes, accessories, furniture, crockery, perfume, jewellery and homewares.

6x4 (sound) https://soundcloud.com/6x4online

04/03/2026

M O O N B L I N D

Last night I watched our planet cast its shadow on The Moon. Very few humans have had the chance to view Earth as a whole but those who have often report a profound shift in perspective as they see our fragile blue planet hovering alone in endless space. The overview effect. All of our joy, grief, ecstasy, war, disaster and triumph taking place on this lonely sphere. No divisions, no borders, no passports: just one planet, one ecosystem.

As I watched The Moon turn copper red I felt like I was looking into an obscure mirror. We rarely have opportunities to feel the size of our planet. Perhaps when we contemplate a photo from space or glimpse that graceful curve from a small window on an international flight. I watched that same curve as it cast a shadow across the face of the pale moon. It gave me a sense of the Earth as a mass in space, in relation to the sun, in relation to the moon. Then emptiness between these bodies became apparent, the endlessness of space beyond, unfathomable. Somewhere in that shadow was me. Somewhere in that shadow was every single one of us. That distant mirror watching us, knowing the planet and all its inhabitants to be one.

-----

I finished making this blind for the bedroom window on the evening of the blood moon. I used leftover fabric from the large jogakbo-inspired patchwork screen I made to fit the window in the gallery of the Dowse (over 4 x 6 metres in size!). As light from the sun and moon filters in through the circle, arriving from millions of miles away, I hope it will always be a reminder of this overview effect.

04/02/2026

THE VESSEL
An upcoming show at

We are living in times of profound, unprecedented loneliness, where the myth of the individual self claims to offer paths to success and happiness but ultimately works to isolate and disconnect us from ourselves, each other, and the world. We feel alone and wonder what is wrong with us, rather than interrogate the society that offers little potential for community-building, shared storytelling, and collective dreaming. When we examine our environment it quickly becomes clear that nothing is individual or separate: everything is connected through a complex web of relationships, even our bodies rely on a whole ecosystem of microbiota for survival. We are not alone. We are part of this world and it is part of us. This show is not about my work as an isolated phenomenon: it is an ode to the network of connections that have shaped my world and creative practice, to those who have come before me, and to those who will continue to create, share, and listen to stories for as long as the human race exists. When we can find moments of connection, despite the tides of disunion and confusion that try to keep us apart, we feel the boundaries of our personhood become permeable. We sing, longing to melt into the great ocean of being, and feel the walls of our empty vessel reverberate with the song of the world.

I warmly invite everyone to the opening

Friday 20 Feb, 6pm

Come dressed in your most extravagant outfit!
The one you never have an occasion to wear!
Whatever makes you feel like your best, truest self!
A celebration of embodiment!

Free return bus service leaving from Te Papa on Cable Street at 5:30pm, returning at 8pm. First come, first seated

Please RSVP to [email protected] by 16 Feb

In the spirit of togetherness, I have invited dear some friends to create a collaborative public programme on the 21st and 22nd


Details to come!

Thanks to the friends who helped with this shoot
Camera: Francesca Logan
Photography: Bri Leone-Rhea Lawrence
Assistant: John Harris

09/03/2025

My dear friend Jang Huddle came down to Ōtautahi to stay with me for a few days. During our time together we talked about lots of things. We talked about what it means to be Korean on this unceded whenua and the trauma we inherit as children of a people torn in half. We talked about culture and the complexity of being disconnected from your own heritage, but also the joy of rediscovery. Culture is not an artefact, it is a process and a practice. We get to have a say in what it means to be Korean, and moreover what it means to be Korean-New Zealanders. It is an ongoing journey in the same way that it is an ongoing journey for us as tauiwi to because tangata tiriti: people of the treaty, who honour the treaty.

Cindy 윤하 is a brightly heartful, deeply caring person and a beautiful dancer. We went to the red zone to take some photos of a dress from an old collection. It was made from repurposed bamboo viscose that I buried in the ground for a while then used as a drop cloth. I hand darned the holes in the fabric before draping the dress. We talked about abandoned places and the idea of home. I gave this dress to Cindy to wear in Korea during an upcoming residency at Horanggasy in Gwangju.

29/01/2025

Blessings for the lunar new year!

When I was younger I didn’t really understand the meaning of such cultural celebrations, I just thought of them as pleasant relics of my Korean heritage that I didn’t quite understand. But as I grow older I am realising how deeply significant these traditions are, allowing us to engage in the ritualised creation of meaning. Even though the cultural context changed when my family immigrated across the pacific ocean, the spirit of these celebrations remain the same. This is so important when capitalism and ongoing colonial power structures seek to alienate us from ourselves, our communities, and the natural environment. So often the stories about who we are get told to us, but our cultural celebrations tie us to our past in order to situate us in the present and allow us to tell our own stories. We can mark the passing of time at the pace of the heavens rather than the beat of the clock, reminding ourselves that we are a step in the dance of the cosmos. This is a heartening reminder, especially when things seem dark. I reach out and kindle hope in closeness with friends and family.

This video shows the process behind two of the works for ‘Yawning at the Fray’, a show I made in collaboration with Ruby Chang-Jet White for The Physics Room last year. The hand sewn silk hangings, ‘A house made from inherited bricks’, were made exactly to fit the windows at the physics room. Gina Russell from Growing Textiles NZ helped me dye them with organic indigo that she grew herself at the BHU organics college. In Korea there is a tradition of giving fine silver spoons and chopsticks to couples who are getting married. My parents and maternal grandparents were given such gifts, and these were passed down to me. I melted them down to make ‘Sing me the songs you used to sing’, a hammered bell hanging on a twisted cord of indigo-dyed silk.

These works are steeped in the warmth of the relationships that brought the materials to my hands. We do not come from nowhere, we are not isolated individuals: we are deeply interconnected. Let us find hope, direction, and purpose in remembering that we are the ancestors for future generations.

With love

08/01/2025

Silkworms spinning their golden homes.

I was given a few worms to rear by Gina of Growing Textiles NZ. I loved having these little creatures quietly munching away on fragrant mulberry leaves in my studio. By the time the silk hardened the pupae had shrunk and stiffened, rattling around inside the cocoon. At this point I put them in the freezer. Once all the worms have pupated they will be processed, killing the worms but releasing the unbroken strand of silk that can measure up to a kilometre long. In Korea the pupae are eaten as a protein-rich street snack so I am going to test out a few recipes.

09/11/2024

Working with raw materials directly from the soil has been very special for me. My interactions with indigo in the past have been with the powdered pigment extract, but through working with Gina of 'Growing Textiles' I have been able to begin a relationship with the living plant. I loved being able to experiment with how I could use different parts of the plant in various applications. I used the fresh green leaves in an ice-extraction dye on silk, suede, and wool. The leftover pulp from this I mixed with flour and made into beads. The dried leaves I used as a bed for the ceramic eggs given to me by Cheryl Lucas for a show 'Free Range' at The National. The remaining dried leaves I will try to grind into a pigment. I made this coiled basket vase using the dried stalks. The waxed linen thread was coloured using charcoal from my fireplace. It was finished with a mixture of Tung oil and beeswax, and it holds the retted and dried stalks of linen that I will process into fibre after this show.

This basket travelled with me while I went on holiday with some friends...

25/08/2024

Planting hopes like seeds for the coming year

I want to find ways of aligning my life to the cycles of nature: to the seasons that change, reminding us of the passing of time and the eternal dance of life and death. This is not an original idea, until very recently it was the unquestionable force that ruled our lives but in our post-industrial world we live according to the beat of the calendar and clock. These metronomes don’t acknowledge the ebb and flow of the seasons but keep us in time to a standardised hour, the metric of our productivity. They view us as clockwork rather than beings with rich inner lives and an innate connection to larger systems. I want to see the year as a cycle rather than a calendar. As I embrace the coming Spring I plant my hopes like seeds for the coming year.

Earlier this year I made a connection with Gina and Charlotte of 'Growing Textiles NZ' out at BHU organics college at Lincoln University where they are growing organic linen, indigo, and other dye plants. I helped with their first indigo harvest and took some home for my own use. This was my first time connecting with materials directly from the soil and it was a transformative experience. Using these materials, grown with love and care for wider systems, made me see my connection to place and to others in a new light. I felt, in an embodied sense, the massive part textiles have played in our lives and communities until so recently. Textiles is the second most polluting industry in the world. Working with Gina and Charlotte gives me hope for the future and I am excited to help with the coming season.

This work was made in response to a dozen ceramic eggs given to me by Cheryl Lucas. It will be included in 'Free Range' at The National where 16 artists have been invited to respond to their own dozens. It is made from dried indigo stalks from the previous harvest, after their leaves were stripped to use as dye. It holds the eggs on a bed of dried indigo leaves. It holds my hopes for the coming season. It holds my hopes for our relationship with textiles and the planet as a species.

11/08/2024

WEEKLY OBJECTS
I've made a limited edition series of candleholders called '요일 (yo-il)' for the yearly fundraiser for Objectspace, an institution that has been hugely supportive to me and many other makers since 2004

They will be released at 12pm Wednesday 14th of August https://www.objectspace.org.nz/shop/

In my second year at Art school I swore off making art and decided to only focus on making functional objects. I wanted to understand my identity, what it means to be human, and what connects us to the roots of our being. I found that everyday objects were able to do this very effortlessly, reflecting aspects of our experience simply by upholding their function. They speak so poetically about how we live our lives and the rituals we enact in our intimate and public spaces. We have been making useful objects since the beginnings of our story. These archaeological relics reach out to us across time and allow us to feel connected to the people who made and used them. Beyond their physical characteristics they are imbued with intangible power: with emotional, cultural, social, and spiritual resonance. This ability for functional objects to tell stories is endlessly exciting for me. Making is not just working with materials for their physical characteristics, it is also working with their immaterial, narrative qualities.

I made these seven candleholders from limestone salvaged from the quake-demolished Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Ōtautahi, where I grew up. Thinking about the idea of 'Weekly objects' I named the series 'yo-il' after the seven days of the week in Chinese characters (also used in Korea and Japan). Each day of the week takes its name from a different element and each candleholder has been treated with a different finish to reflect the name. Many of the finishes were made from materials from around my home: Houhere bark from the backyard, soil from the garden, natural indigo from an old dye vat, and charcoal from the fire. They tell the story of my home, my culture, my city.

29/07/2024

Earlier this year I made a connection with Gina, Charlotte, and Bella of 'Growing Textiles NZ' at the Biological Husbandry Unit Organics Trust (BHU), a joint venture between Lincoln University and the New Zealand Organic Movement. At the end of the Summer I went to help harvest some of their organic indigo. I took home some leaves to use for dye and a few months later I went back for a bundle of retted and dried linen. This was my first attempt at processing some of the linen. Without any proper tools I just used a rolling pin to break then scutch the linen. Finally I heckled it with a comb to produce some fibre that is ready for spinning. The short, coarse fibres that came as a result of this process I combed out and spun into a rough twine.

27/06/2024

Coil basket vase made from Crocosmia (Coppertip) leaves harvested from the front of the house where I live. Every year I dry the seed heads to use in dried arrangements but I wanted to find a use for the leaves. I used jute twine to make them into a coil basket vase. After it was completd I torched it to removed the jute fluff and loose leaves. I wanted it to have a dark finish so I coloured it with tung oil mixed with crushed charcoal from the fireplace. Once this oil cures it will harden and give the basket a rigid structure.

10/06/2024

Jess in the Bay
Wearing some old costumes
With some of her beautiful music in the background

The full track features her gorgeous vocals Jess Aspinwall

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