A hand-sculpted porcelain oil lamp 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. 874, is a Horong — the Korean traditional oil lamp, used for centuries to produce light from an oil-based flame before electric lighting existed. The Dogabi Horong functions as a lamp with paraffin oil, or as an aroma diffuser. A brass spout rises from the crown with a cotton wick; oil is poured inside the hollow body and the wick lit from above.
Wheel-thrown and hand-sculpted in white porcelain, this is the most abstract and unsettling face in the series — a perfectly round body glazed in deep amber, oxblood, and near-black, the colors pooling and burning across the surface like tortoiseshell held to light. The face is barely a face: a single eye with a gold-fired iris, half-submerged in the glaze. A row of small rounded British 23.5k gold teeth visible at the lower jaw. One gold horn pointing sideways from the right temple — the only thing that reads as a horn at all. No nose to speak of. The whole object tilts slightly, as if considering something. Fired at 2,102°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 Horong: the Korean traditional oil lamp, reimagined as a Dogabi — functions with paraffin oil as a working lamp, or filled with fragrance oil as an aroma diffuser.
- 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.
- The most abstract Dogabi: barely a face, barely a body — oxblood and near-black glaze, a single eye, one sideways horn, and a row of gold teeth at the base. More creature than object.
- British 23.5k gold eye, horn, and teeth: re-fired at 1,472°F — the gold punctuates the darkness rather than dominating it.
- Oxblood and amber glaze: deep, lacquer-like, and almost geological — the colors move across the surface like something alive.
- Collectible from the first: the studio numbers each piece, and past Dogabi sold through Takamichi Beauty Room have not returned.
HOW TO USE
As a lamp: fill the body with paraffin oil and light the cotton wick at the brass spout. As an aroma diffuser: fill with fragrance oil of your choice and light the wick to diffuse scent into the room. Keep away from flammable materials and never leave unattended while lit.
DETAILS
- Material: white porcelain, brass spout, cotton wick
- Size: 110 x 110 x 110 (h) mm / approx. 4.3" x 4.3" x 4.3" high
- Weight: 370g
- Method: wheel throwing, hand sculpting, pierced decoration
- Kiln: oxidation firing at 2,102°F; gold (British 23.5k) glaze firing at 1,472°F
- Functions as paraffin oil lamp or aroma diffuser
- 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.
