Najeonchilgi: The Ancient Korean Art Form Shines Into the Future

Kim Young-jun quit a career forecasting stocks to master a nearly extinct Korean art form, and ended up decorating everything from Bill Gates’ Xbox to a chair made for the Pope.

An Xbox covered in mother-of-pearl sounds like something a wealthy gamer commissioned after losing a bet.

That console is real, and it’s the work of Kim Young-jun, an artist who left a career in finance to help revive najeonchilgi: the centuries-old Korean craft of inlaying lacquerware with shimmering fragments of shell.

What Is Najeonchilgi?

Najeonchilgi uses mother-of-pearl, the luminous inner layer found inside abalone and other shells. Artisans slice the shell into paper-thin fragments and arrange them into patterns. They then lacquer and polish the surface until the shell glows from within the dark background. One misplaced fragment can undo weeks of work, which is the kind of pressure I don’t need in my life.

The craft dates back to Korea’s Goryeo period, when it was prized by the aristocracy and given as a diplomatic gift. Designs grew more restrained during the Joseon Dynasty, leaning on natural imagery over ornate detail, though the classic look (white shell against black lacquer) never really went away. Kim wanted to know what else it could become.

From Stockbroker to Shell

In 1994, Kim walked away from a career as a stock analyst to study the craft at age 35. The early years were rough, and he opened a najeonchilgi shop that nearly failed.

So he changed the target. Kim moved on from furniture to paintings, interiors, and consumer objects. He also added color rather than sticking to the traditional black-and-white palette.

The Xbox Heard Round the World

The object that made Kim internationally famous was, of all things, a video game console. In 2008, Bill Gates gave President Lee Myung-bak an Xbox inlaid with plum blossoms and butterflies. Kim titled the artwork “Peace.” Gates liked it enough to order about 100 more as gifts for other VIPs.

Gates later passed a piece along to Steve Jobs, who asked Kim for a mother-of-pearl iPhone case of his own, with a butterfly motif, in 2009. Even the men responsible for convincing us to replace our phones every two years could appreciate something built to last.

Kim’s work reached the Vatican too. When Pope Francis visited Korea in 2014, Kim built the chair used for his Mass at Myeongdong Cathedral. It was a deliberately modest piece finished with restrained detailing, in keeping with Francis’s preference for simplicity over spectacle. Najeonchilgi has a long history of being handed to visiting dignitaries.

Keeping the Light Alive

Najeonchilgi’s survival isn’t guaranteed. The materials are harder to source, and the work is punishingly slow, while cheap imitations continue to pop up. But imitation can’t fake what actually makes these pieces work: mother-of-pearl shifts color as you move around it, flashing silver, then blue, then pink, depending on the light.

Kim’s career says something about how traditions actually survive: not by staying untouched, but by landing somewhere unexpected, a gallery wall, an iPhone, a papal chair, an Xbox…

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