Custom ceramic plant pots became her true passion – now she sells them on Facebook and Instagram
- Mipa Shin was living with more than 50 houseplants in the bedroom of her Koreatown flat in Los Angeles and wanted to make ‘something to dress up every one’
- After taking a ceramics class, she is now creating custom-made planters full-time in the garage behind her home and selling them online
Artist Mipa Shin sits on a low metal stool next to her pottery wheel and prepares to talk houseplants. Smiling, pointing to the planters that line the shelves of her single-car-garage-turned-ceramics-studio, her excitement grows, just like her favourite plant: the tall, sculptural Adenia venenata.
Shin’s planters are difficult to label because she designs each one to complement the rare plants that capture her interest. That’s what makes them so special: each vessel is inspired by her love of plants. There are chocolate brown and speckled buff vessels for caudex, pagoda planters for Adenia glauca, checkerboard glazed pots for pussywillows, striped planters for Pilea peperomioides, and philodendrons and doughnut-shaped vessels for hoyas and airplants.
Shin says it is undeniable, although unintended, that her background influences her work.
“There is a Korean term yeo-baek that is meant to convey an aesthetic ideal of empty space and simplicity,” she says. “I don’t intentionally try to design my pots in this style, but I think to some degree it’s the style that naturally comes out of me as a Korean.”
Three years ago, Shin was living with more than 50 houseplants in the bedroom of her Koreatown flat. She became so obsessed with plants, the Korean dancer and choreographer set a goal for herself: “I want to make something to dress up every plant.”
