Sang-Jin Lee: Brand as Experience

How would you describe your brand?

My brand is more fluid than a tee shirt company; it’s an exploration of identity. When I was a junior in high school, I found that making things gave my life meaning. I was feeling existential as a seventeen year old *laughs*; I didn’t understand design, but taking influence from graffiti and street art, I created a character that represented me and used it to work through my existential crises visually. Over time, my work grew from one character to a visual language. Only this year has my brand become less about me as an individual.

What’s the significance of your ghost motif?

Originally, I think the ghost channeled my fascination with graffiti—the desire to mark the world in a physical way—and my teenage angst; I also didn’t know how to draw anything else *laughs*. Creating an identity has a lot to do with iconography. Religious iconography is powerful to me because humans infuse those symbols with meaning… there are icons that people recognize wherever they are. Banksy, too, carries so much weight, and his power comes through recognition. That kind of energy interests me.

I’ve been experimenting with translating [my work] beyond ghosts; I drew skulls, and then crosses…I’ve been focusing on that Korean identity thing, too. I’m interested in working with other Korean artists, collaborating and using Korean models to normalize Asians in a place of creative power. What’s one thing you want to do with the brand?

Growing up in America as a Korean youth, the Asians represented in the public sphere were mathematicians or Jackie Chan stereotypes in movies and TV shows. If you had told me when I was younger that I would be creating, I wouldn’t have believed it because there was no one for me to look up to. I want kids to look what I’m doing and be like, “this person is doing it, so I can, too.”

I could see my brand expanding into film, or to get it to the level where it’s a broad platform. Fame appeals to me in the sense that if if you’re in a position of creative power, you can translate ideas into many different mediums and reach a lot of people. I create things to connect with other people and understand their hopes and fears and what drives them. It sounds hippie-ish, but honestly it’s about connecting souls. I want my work to invite open communication and connection.

What does your creative process look like?

My process is very intuitive. I do a lot of reflecting and reverse engineering; I look at what I’m drawn to and explore it through writing, thinking, or making to figure out why i like it. Then I’ll take something from that, cannibalize it, and add it to my design process. Everything I do and every interaction I have-- I try to take it in like a sponge to gather all of these different experiences into one unique experience.

A lot of people do things out of habit, or see pleasure and profession as seperate, but if you pay attention to what you like, you’ll be a more passionate maker and your work will be better. I take my brand seriously, but it all stems from what’s fun for me.

Elementally I’m discontent with the world–I don’t say that to sound edgy, I say that to explain why I want to make an impact through my work. A lot of problems stem from our inability to work through our negative emotions. I want to help people do that in a tangible way. The visual arts have a really unique power to break boundaries: when everybody watches the same movie or listens to the same song, everyone’s unique narrative converges into a shared experience. That’s something I strive for through the things I make.

Writing ALEXANDRIA MOORE

Photography MADELINE MONTOYA

Editing MIKKI JANOWER