ARTIST HIGHTLIGHTS_ SUNG JANG
In a world where design often leans into spectacle over substance, Sung Jang’s work stands quietly but confidently apart.
Trained as both a sculptor and a product designer—with degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Domus Academy in Milan—Jang’s practice sits at the intersection of art, architecture, and industrial design. His objects often strike with scale and form, but beyond their immediate visual impact, they reveal a layered logic meant to unfold over time. Central to his approach is the idea of modularity: simple forms that, when repeated, become intricate systems. His large-scale installation at Anderson Ranch, composed of 15,000 interlocking polypropylene pieces, speaks to this philosophy. It’s design as ecosystem—rooted in logic, yet expressive in form. “I want the work to feel alive,” he’s said. “Not because it moves, but because it evolves.” Based in Chicago, Jang leads the Industrial Design program at the University of Illinois at Chicago and runs his independent studio practice. He’s collaborated with names like Louis Vuitton and Roche Bobois, yet his most compelling work often emerges outside the spotlight—through experimental objects, teaching, and longform ideas that challenge how we define beauty, structure, and sustainability in design.
Do you remember the first artwork of any medium you saw and thought, ‘That’s interesting,’ or beautiful, or impacted you in any way?
When I was in pre-school age, my mom had a cassette walkman with a headphone. I remember playing the tape for the first time and listening to music in the intimacy of headphone- I don't remember the music itself, but I remember thinking it was an incredibly inspiring experience to hear the stereo soundscape at that age. for some reason I remember it to be both aural and visual.. Weird. But cool.
Please explain your design principles. Where do they stem from, and were they passed on to you intimately or in academic settings?
I think the foundation of my practice came from various sources - I religiously collected and bought Pla-model (Gundam kit type things) as a kid, which I think gave me an interesting mechanical, engineering sensibility, maybe even sense of aesthetic and proportions etc. Growing up in 80's Korea and spending teen years in 90's U.S. I was exposed to a variety of interesting culture products that kind of influenced me to put together a vision of becoming a producer of culture.
What do you feel is the most overlooked design element, if any?
This can be answered in different dimensions but universally, I think the amount of input to generate meaningful output is often underappreciated across the board. I think creating successful design is a very resource-demanding activity, be it experience, effort, or expense.
Please share some of your favorite Korean or other cultural concepts of aesthetic or philosophical principles.
Koreans are very ed-hoc. While we can trace back to discuss all of the ways Koreans invented 'proper' culture, we are also very casual and improvising. There is a kind of tendency of doing just enough to get what we need. This is probably amplified by the pre-modern poverty that we went through until a few decades ago. This improvisational approach to things, combined with an intense desire for prosperity generated lots of well- made strange hybrids we know now as the Korean pop culture.
Do you incorporate any of these in your work?
Yes. The foundational principle my work is predicated on is kind of along the same line of thinking. I find random natural object and negotiate with it to get what I want while not destroying it. It's also a critique on the cultural/industrial desire to have perfect things.
What do you feel is oversaturated right now in design and arts?
Instantly generated stuff.
What would you like to see more of?
Projects with long term commitment and mastery honed in though real dedication...
What’s the most deceptively simple idea that inspired one of your pieces?
No material is more valuable than another. It's not a new concept, but if you take away the concept of supply and demand, all materials are just elements that do different things.
If a future archaeologist found one of your works without context, what do you hope they’d assume about the world that created it?
That we love, respect, and want to preserve the natural environment.
Do you design with permanence in mind—or are you more interested in how a form might decay, shift, or be forgotten?
I think permanence is desirable. Not only individuals works but the whole genre or medium of work. What repels me (a little bit) from digital medium is its nature of foreseeable obsolescence. I feel oil painting and stone sculpture will outlast most plastic or digital things and that is attractive to me.
Which piece challenged your sense of authorship the most?
Recent attempts in paintings... I have been a maker type rather than a painter, but it always lingered on to make meaningful body of image-based work. I am inching in these days to allow myself to be a painter.. kind of.
