A hand-sculpted porcelain flower vase from Dogabi — a South Korean ceramic studio whose entire output is built around a single figure: the dokkaebi, or Korean goblin. In Korean folklore, the dokkaebi is not a villain. It is a guardian — a protector of the home, a bringer of abundance, a creature that lives in the space between the frightening and the familiar.
This piece, No. 277, is a cylindrical vase — wide enough to hold a generous arrangement, tall enough to give it presence. Wheel-thrown and hand-sculpted in white porcelain, glazed in deep oxblood and burgundy that fades into sage green at the rim. The face emerges from the body of the vase rather than sitting on top of it: a single gold-fired eye at center brow, heavy-lidded and watchful. A broad nose. A wide grimace lined with British 23.5k gold teeth. The face wraps around the cylinder — from the front it is a goblin; from the side, a vase; from behind, nothing at all. The angle changes the object entirely.
Fired at 2,282°F with oxidation, then re-fired at 1,472°F for the gold glaze. Each piece is one of a kind; no two Dogabi are identical.
WHY IT'S SPECIAL
- A vase that changes with the angle: the face wraps the cylinder — full goblin from the front, pure vessel from behind. Plants interact with the face differently depending on what you put in and where you stand.
- Every piece is unique: wheel-thrown and hand-sculpted individually by ceramic artist Hyung Jun Kim — no two are the same face, the same glaze, the same expression.
- British 23.5k gold teeth and eye: re-fired at 1,472°F — the gold catches differently against the deep oxblood glaze as the light moves through the day.
- Oxblood and sage glaze: the richest, most painterly glaze in the Dogabi series — deep burgundy at the body breaking into celadon green at the rim.
- Generous opening at 95mm diameter: wide enough for branches, florals, or a single large stem — the face reads differently with every arrangement.
- Collectible from the first: the studio numbers each piece, and past Dogabi sold through Takamichi Beauty Room have not returned.
DETAILS
- Material: white porcelain
- Size: 95 x 115 x 175 (h) mm / approx. 3.7" x 4.5" x 6.9" high
- Opening diameter: 95mm / approx. 3.7"
- Weight: 720g
- Method: wheel throwing, hand sculpting
- Kiln: oxidation firing at 2,282°F; gold (British 23.5k) glaze firing at 1,472°F
- One of a kind; each piece varies
- Made in South Korea by THR Ceramic Studio
THE BRAND
Dogabi is the ceramic line of THR Ceramic Studio, founded in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea in 2003 by ceramic artist Hyung Jun Kim. The studio's work spans functional objects and one-of-a-kind sculpture, but the Dogabi series is its most singular obsession: every piece is a new version of the same figure — the dokkaebi of Korean folklore, reimagined in porcelain each time. The dokkaebi has been part of Korean imagination for centuries, appearing as guardian, trickster, monster, and protector depending on who is telling the story. Kim's versions are all of these at once. Each is numbered, each is different, and none come back once they're gone. In October 2025, Takamichi Beauty Room hosted an exhibition with the artist, covered by T Magazine.
