Jane Kang
On a crisp morning in the Mission District, the utilitarian metal boxes that line 22nd and Dolores have been reborn as vivid crimson canvases, their surfaces imprinted with the sinuous silhouettes of onggis: Korean earthenware vessels that bear the weight of centuries of domestic ritual. At the center of this transformation is Jane Kang, a Korean-American interdisciplinary artist whose public murals and intimate studio ceramics weave together threads of cultural memory, personal lineage, and collective resilience.
Kang’s “Grandmother, Mother, Daughter,” at 23rd and Church. Courtesy of Jane Kang.
Raised amid the gentle alchemy of fermentation, Kang spent her childhood watching her mother and grandmother coax life from humble clays and spices. “Fermentation is something so incredibly core to my culture,” she often reflects, and in her hands each onggi becomes far more than a vessel for kimchi or soy sauce, it is an archivist of survival, transformation, and intergenerational ties. Under the banner of San Francisco’s “Paint the City” initiative in December 2024, she was entrusted with nine unremarkable utility boxes, which she enlivened with gochujang-inspired reds and the haunting “Onggis of Tears,” jars brimful of liquid grief that bleed sorrow into the streets as a gesture of communal catharsis.
But Kang’s practice extends well beyond these bold public proclamations. In her sunlit studio, she hand-builds salt cellars whose interiors glisten like obsidian caves, and ungazed vessels whose raw, rugged surfaces speak to the authenticity of material. Braided handles (clay coils echoing the ritual of maternal hair-braiding) tie her work back to intimate acts of care, the loops and ridges serving as clay-wrought lullabies linking Seoul, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in concentric kinships. On Instagram, @kangceramics, she shares the quiet poetry of her process: the slow pour of molten slip, the anticipatory hush before a kiln door swings open.
'Textured Plate' by Jane Kang.
Now, Kang’s vessels enter a fresh chapter through a collaboration with us at High Society. We’re proud to feature her work as part of our coveted "Artist Series," alongside many other talented artist. Her signature clay-braided handles and vibrant-red glazes now live alongside our bespoke tailoring and thoughtfully curated objects, an embodiment of our ongoing commitment to fabricating clothing and curating pieces that uncover the edges of self-expression. This partnership invites our community to experience Kang’s creations not only as functional forms, but as sculptural dialogues where tradition and innovation converge within our storied fashion narrative.
