Photo credit: Melanie Zacek for Quiltfolk Magazine

Youngmin Lee

Korean Textile Artist

Youngmin Lee is a textile artist who uses bojagi tradition and techniques to create her work. Her interest in textiles led her to study Clothing and Textile in college and received an MFA in Fashion Design in South Korea. She researches bojagi making and techniques and endeavors to apply her findings to both traditional and contemporary art. After moving from Seoul to California, she has been actively preserving the bojagi tradition, that embodies the philosophy of recycling and upcycling, as the works are often made from leftover pieces of fabric from other projects. 

She works closely with the Asian American community through community engaged projects and workshops. In addition to teaching in person, Youngmin created the educational DVD, Bojagi: The Art of Wrapping Cloths in 2013 to reach audiences from afar. Her latest book, Bojagi: The Art of Korean Textiles, was published in 2024.

In 2017, she founded the Korea Textile Tour to introduce Korean traditional textile art and culture to bridge broader audiences.  Youngmin’s works have been exhibited and collected across the United States and internationally. The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco and the Mingei International Museum in San Diego hold her works in their permanent collection.

Bojagi is an umbrella term for wrapping cloths. Most have a square or rectangular shape. One bojagi can have many names, based on the user or maker’s class, its intended use, and the material, techniques and designs used.