wood art studio

Taeho Kwon attended East Carolina University and majored in Commercial Arts, studying Interior Design. His goal was to construct his own designs instead of hiring other builders. To achieve this, he applied for jobs outside of the field and started working on fine carpentry. He also tried to learned everything he could from framing to exteriors, anything that would improve his skills to build his designs. After learning and practicing for 10 years, he decided to take a step further and extend his understanding of joinery. He then traveled to Korea and attended The School of Traditional Korean Architecture, earning a Certificate of Maintenance and Restoration for Korean traditional buildings. He learned to make Buddhist Temples and traditional furniture. Since then, he has spent numerous years gaining experience on the restoration and new construction of traditional Korean houses, as well as temple buildings. He focused on temples because he wanted to improve his knowledge of joinery and the secrets behind making it last for thousands of years. In a temple or a King's Palace building, there are about three times more types of joints involved than in fine furniture building. His plan has been to utilize this advanced joinery in his own furniture design, which is represented in his sitting bench/coffee table and the entry table creation.