[ep 086] Sung Lee on new creative challenges, emotional vulnerability & Korea's cultural dominance

There’s a built-in optimism and passion to Sung Lee that’s contagious—and he is well-loved by many because of it. He was employee number one at Herschel Supply, first as a graphic designer and, over the course of a decade, became the brand’s creative director. Now, Sung leads creative at premium, contemporary dinnerware brand Fable. 

He was born in Korea and spent his childhood there. An architect, his father was the definition of a stoic, emotionally closed Asian father. His mother, an art teacher, continuously nurtured his creative side, encouraging him to draw, paint, and go to art school. Their upper middle class life ended when the IMF economic crisis hit Korea and, one day, Sung was suddenly told they had to live with an aunt. It turned out his father had borrowed money to keep his business afloat, and the Korean equivalent of the yakuza had come around to settle and his father wanted to keep the family safe. 

Eventually, the family moved to Canada, with Sung applying to an ESL school—he struggled until his mother enrolled him in a Korean art school, where he made some friends. This brought him to Emily Carr, where he learned to present his work in English phonetically. On a trip back to Korea, his father expressed he was sick—his parents returned to Canada, leaving 23-year-old Sung to sell their house in Korea. As he drove home from the airport, his mother told him his father had cancer and, two weeks later, Sung’s father passed. To move through grief, Sung took on a physical warehouse job. After a few months, his creative spirit came back. He started by launching a fashion show and landed a job at a small design agency that had an office beside Vans, where Lyndon Cormack worked prior to launching Herschel Supply with his brother Jamie. It was an instant meeting of like design minds, leading to a deep bond with the Cormacks and launching his long career as a creative director.  

In this conversation, we examine the effects on not sharing emotions with his family members; how Sung found skateboarding as a teen and its influence on him; his chapter at art school; navigating his father’s passing, surviving in Canada and processing his grief; the story of how he landed the job as employee number one at Herschel Supply, where he spent a decade; the roles of a graphic designer versus creative director at a company; his current interest in AI and its impact on design; Korea’s cultural dominance; the love for “han” or sorrow amongst Koreans; and much more.     

[TIMESTAMPS]

6:41 - Growing up and family history

16:36 - His transition to Canada

25:16 - Reflection on processing his father’s death 

39:48 - Skills he learned from being a graphic designer to being a creative director 

41:56 - His creative process 

45:32 - What's fascinating him right now

47:20 - His transition from Herschel to Fable  

53:10 - What a good feeling feels like for him

54:16 - One thing that can change someone’s perspective 

56:20 - Missing Korea

57:32 - How he met his wife

01:06:41 - Korean cultural dominance

01:14:53 - Expressing his emotions now

01:15:36 - Looking back at his life's journey

01:20:01 - What he would say to his dad right now

01:21:08 - The kind of life he hopes for his daughter

01:23:32  - What 'han' means to Koreans

01:26:27 - Final question 

01:28:29 - Where to find him

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Before Company: https://beforecompany.com/discount/CRAFT10 - get 10% off your entire order; one-time use per customer; no expiry date

otō healing: https://www.instagram.com/otohealing/ - email otohealing at gmail.com to get 10% off your initial sound therapy session