Joonho Brian Ko is an illustrator and a graphic designer currently based in Seoul.
He was born in South Korea, grew up in India, and studied in the UK. After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Illustration & Animation from the Kingston University of Art, He initially began his career as a graphic designer at Orla Kiely. Until later when he found his particular penchant in the visual experiment of modernizing the Asian folk aesthetics in the form of digital illustration.
His works have since been featured at Wepresent, DNMD, and It’sNiceThat.
Influenced by Asian folklore and art, Mid-century modern designs, and pop culture, he puts his focus on highlighting simplified figures with meticulous details that penetrate through the theme.
Reasoning from this, his creative process begins by shaping out the blank space. He believes that ‘to fully complete, start by emptying’. In the accomplishment of this, he seeks to explore in-depth study of a theme there is either visually, textually, or conceptually.
Joonho is committed to any project there is where his illustration style can be interestingly applied, as proven from his experience with various Editorial illustrations, Site-Specific Media Performance, and Animation.
His recent clients include : The North Face, Folio Society, Robb Report, Refinery29, Coex Seoul, Korean-Arab Cultural Centre, and Korean National Folk Museum.