Today we’d like to introduce you to Seonwoo (Sino) Park.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My journey into art began quite unexpectedly.
I was born in Korea and grew up in the Philippines since I was thirteen and was attending school there. Before entering 11th grade, I started thinking seriously about what to study in college. During a summer trip to Korea, my father and I passed by a car showroom, and he casually said, “That’s also art.” Until that moment, I believed art only meant drawing well — but his comment completely changed how I understood what art could be.
Back in the small mountain city where I lived, access to art was limited, so I began learning painting from my school art teacher. That experience drew me into the world of visual expression, and eventually led me to pursue art school. I first attended the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) as a Painting major, then transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) to experience a more diverse and conceptual environment.
At SAIC, I took a class called Intro to Fashion, which approached fashion as wearable sculpture rather than traditional garment-making. I became fascinated by how fabric could be a medium of art — something tactile, three-dimensional, and interactive. From that point, my work evolved from two-dimensional painting into three-dimensional textile-based sculpture, where I could shape material, manipulate texture, and express emotion through the body itself.
After graduating with a BFA in Fashion Design, I moved to NYC and began working in the fashion industry while continuing my independent art practice. In 2023, I presented Stone Collection 1 in Korea — a series exploring the tension between permanence and fragility through cement-coated garments. The work was later featured in a Korean high school art textbook by Chunjae Education, which was a huge honor. In 2025, I showcased Stone Collection 2 in New York, extending the narrative into themes of protection, vulnerability, and the longing for a “safe zone” within the grey city — the exhibition drew around a hundred visitors on opening night.
Today, I continue to explore the relationship between the body, material, and emotion through wearable and soft sculptures. My short-term goal is to deepen this exploration of textiles and interactive art, and my long-term goal is to collaborate with brands that hold strong storytelling identities — bridging my artistic narrative with fashion and creative direction.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road.
One of the biggest challenges I faced was transitioning from the art school environment into the reality of the professional world. I didn’t study fashion because I loved clothes — I studied it because I saw fabric as my artistic medium. But once I graduated from the Fashion Department, I found myself in a confusing position. I wanted to understand the larger creative industry — how design connects to economy, culture, and the system of production — so I decided to start by working in the fashion field.
Finding my first job was extremely difficult. At school, artistic expression was everything, but in the industry, I had to rebuild my portfolio to focus on technical skills and what companies actually needed. After many rejections, I finally joined a fashion brand and learned how creativity functions in a real-world context. Still, balancing a full-time job with my personal art practice was exhausting, especially in a city like New York where time and living costs are constant pressures.
This balance between my career and my art remains an ongoing challenge, but I see it as part of my growth. Learning to manage my time and setting up my own studio were my first steps toward reclaiming space for my creative voice. That’s why Stone Collection 2 — which I presented after two years — holds such deep meaning for me. It marked a new beginning, a baby step toward building a more sustainable artistic life. Moving forward, I want to make my work more accessible — creating small, tangible pieces that people can carry with them, while continuing to expand the narrative of Stone Collection through the lens of my diverse background and experiences.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work explores the relationship between material, body, and emotion — how what we wear or touch can become an extension of how we feel. I specialize in creating wearable and soft sculptures that blur the boundaries between fashion and art. Rather than designing clothes for function, I treat garments as vessels of memory and emotion — something that protects, conceals, or reveals the self.
I’m best known for my ongoing Stone Collection, a series that interprets the symbolic weight of “stone” through fabric and cement. The first collection, presented in Korea in 2023, explored the tension between permanence and fragility, translating human desire and vulnerability into garments coated in cement. The work was later featured in the 2025 Chunjae Education high school art textbook in Korea, which was a deeply meaningful moment for me — seeing my art recognized as part of art education. The second, Stone Collection 2, expanded this narrative in New York — a city of concrete and constant motion — and was further enriched through collaboration with a graphic designer friend I grew up with in the Philippines, who helped curate and visually shape the exhibition. The project reflected the duality of protection and softness, and the longing to find one’s safe space within the grey city.
What I’m most proud of is how these works invite emotional connection. I want my art to be experienced, not just seen. I’m currently developing a pop-up concept where people can step into my world — to touch, feel, and take a small piece of that experience with them. These objects will act as fragments of memory, allowing visitors to carry a trace of the work into their own lives. In the future, I hope this pop-up concept will evolve into a community space that also features other artists’ works — a collaborative platform where different creative voices can connect, exchange, and grow together.
My next project, Stone Collection 3, draws from the narrative of my hometown, Jeju Island — a place defined by volcanic stones and raw landscapes. The collection will reinterpret Jeju’s spirit within New York’s urban context, bridging two cultures and environments through material storytelling. For me, this project represents the next evolution of communication — using art not only to express, but to connect across cultures through shared emotion and texture.
How do you define success?
“Success means building a life where my creative practice and the world can coexist — where art isn’t isolated in galleries, but lives within people’s everyday experiences.
To me, it’s also about communicating with people and creating a positive influence through my work — allowing art to become a bridge that connects emotions, stories, and lives.”
When someone connects with my work, carries a small part of it with them, or feels understood through it, that’s when I feel most fulfilled. Art is not only about self-expression; it’s about dialogue — an exchange that can comfort, inspire, or empower others. That sense of shared emotion and human connection is what I see as true success.
Pricing:
- Small fabric sculptures / collectible objects: $150–$400
- Wearable sculptural pieces: available upon inquiry
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.potatosino.com
- Instagram: potatosino_
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sino-park/
- Other: @negasinoda
Image Credits
Dusha Castro
Jason Cho
Scarlett Shu
