What can I say about Justin Hang? He is one of the craziest people I have ever met. We met way back in high school and he has inspired me ever since. Whether it’s photography, skateboarding, crazy sketchbooks or chess he seems to be a natural at it all. He has an impressive body of work and is super humble but I got him to talk about some of his work.
- Why don’t we start off with a little introduction. Who you are, where you work/live and how you came to be there.
My name is Justin Hang. Born and raised in NYC, now living in Honolulu, HI. I’m an architectural & real estate photographer, but prefer other arts, ceramics in particular, in my spare time.
- We’ve known each other a long time and you’ve always been involved in something creative (art, design, photography), why don’t you tell us what creative endeavors you have going on now.
For the past bunch of years, I’ve been doing ceramics - mainly functional pottery. It’s a time intensive process where patience plays a huge role. It forces me to slow down and think about what else I want to make or techniques to use on future pieces. When I have time I still grab my board for a cruise or go bouldering.
- How did you find your way into art, design or the creative world in general? (Family influence, friends?)
Growing up, I always enjoyed drawing and art. I was lucky that my mom encouraged it. In high school, graffiti was big and magazines like Can Control showed me how words and letters alone can become art. That led me towards graphic design. In college I majored in graphics and was able to explore photography, typography, iconography, and packaging. It was fun to design for different applications while using my own style. From there I worked in graphic design firms, magazine companies, and fashion.
- Skateboarding has been a big influence on both of us, how did you discover skating and what influence did it have on you? Your art/design/creativity?
I’m a kid of the 80’s, and my brothers were into freestyle bmx at the time. There was a broken banana board that I guess my oldest brother played with and tossed aside. It was missing bushings on one truck and the deck was missing a chunk of the tail. I was 8 years old, no idea what it was, but had a blast just rolling down my parent’s driveway on it. My parents got me a Nash plastic skateboard, and then later a Nash Executioner.
I remember going with my brothers to Art’s Seriously Cycles for bike stuff. They would go through the parts like grips, pegs, headsets, and stuff while talking shop with the owner. I would stare at the decks by Santa Cruz, Powell Peralta, Shut, G&S, and Vision to name a few. The graphics, the shapes, and their concave curves were complete art to me. I was blown away. When I finally got to choose my own custom board - G&S Billy Ruff, red Gullwing trucks, Powell G-Bones, with Schmitt rails and a Powell Tail Bone - seeing all the parts come together made me realize that art can be beautiful, wild, mechanical, and functional. Since then, every complete I’ve put together has been a piece of art to me.
While I loved the graphics and the aesthetics of the board and each part, I was a kid and skated the hell out of it. The texture of the shredded rails and tail guard, bare metal shining through scratches and chips in the trucks. The scrapes across the once pristine graphics, almost smearing it into an artwork colors, texture, finish, and bare wood. Using the skateboard just made it a different kind of beautiful to me. It was those imperfect & unpredictable textures that had a huge effect on me. It showed me that while skateboards as art are beautiful, it was those with the scrapes, texture, and unidentifiable original graphics that were wild, had a sense of energy, and individualistic. Truly, a one-of-a-kind piece of art.
- How was the skate culture where you’re from (Staten Island) and how is it where you live now?
When I started skating as a kid, there was no one to skate with. Skating in NYC wasn’t really a thing. It wasn’t until high school that I was able to skate with other kids. Even then, there weren’t many of us. To give you an estimate: our senior class was made up of ~950 kids; out of that, only 7 of us skated.
It was during high school though, that skateboarding subculture took rise on the east coast. Skater fashion became the uniform for 90’s ravers, and because of this kids were drawn to skateboarders. For a while, there were a ton of new skaters and new posers. Skaters, posers - didn’t matter to me. I was just happy that skateboarding had taken off.
The huge mainstream skateboarding fad eventually died down, but elements of skating fashion stuck and there were still way more skaters and skate shops than when I started. So, still happy about it.
Fast forward to present day in Hawaii. No snowy winters means skating year round. The surfer culture brought about the skateboarding scene here in the 50’s, so they’ve been doing it here longer too. People I’d never expect to see on a board ride out here - old dudes cruising, teenage girls shredding, people skating to commute downtown, and even homeless guys getting around. Skateboarding may have been a fad out here at some point, but it’s as ingrained in society as riding a bicycle.
The thing that blows my mind is how good a lot of the skaters are. Growing up in NYC, there weren’t any skateparks. There was the Brooklyn Banks, and then skating from spot to spot till we got kicked out. In Hawaii, there isn’t too much street skating (not saying there isn’t ANY) and a lot of “serious”skaters go to one of the many skateparks. These kids who grow up in skateparks drop in, catch air, and just handle ramps the way I imagined the pros did while going through Thrasher as a kid. To them though, it’s almost second nature. I’m super jealous, but wouldn’t trade my time street skating through NYC for it.
- How did you discover pottery? How did that become a creative outlet for you?
My wife took a ceramics class with a friend. She’d come home with things and I’d always admire them. I’d ask her to make something in a certain color or something else with a different detail...in which she’d tell me to shut up and do it myself. True love. I eventually signed up for the next session.
The pottery studio that I’m a part of now is the Hawaii Potters Guild. It’s a non-profit community studio for potters. To be a part of it they ask that you participate in some way, be it cleaning an area, distributing clay, or other minimal duties since there’s no real staff. Other duties are a little more in-depth, such as glaze making or firing the different kilns. The latter two are what caught my wife’s and my attention. Learning to make the glaze, about their ingredients, and how they interact with each other, the clay, and with heat, really opened our minds to what ceramics is or can be. From there we were able to get onto a kiln firing team where they taught us how to fire the kiln by watching the temperature and adjusting the kiln’s gas and oxygen atmosphere. Learning about the clay, glazes, and firing process both tamed and stoked ideas for future projects.
- Did you set out to sell your work? How did you hook up with the flea markets, shops and museums?
Selling ceramics was never a goal. I figured I’d just make stuff to use at home and replace the commercial stuff I had been using. The idea of using bowls, mugs, and plates that I had made motivated me to make more things. It also gave me a chance to see what I didn’t like (the weight of each piece, thickness of it’s walls, or even the color) and try something better. Eventually I had enough ceramics to replace the ones I had been using at home. From there I started making pieces for friends and family. I’d ask for any feedback, good or bad, and was/am happy that anyone is using my junk.
In late 2017, I was asked to participate with other potters in a charity event called Empty Bowl. It’s a semiannual event where ticket holders go, and in one hall (ballroom sized) are tables of handmade ceramic bowls, and in the other hall, local restaurants serving up signature dishes. Patrons would choose a bowl to keep and then get something to eat. From that event, another potter invited me to join them for an annual local makers craft fair. From there, it was all word of mouth on social media. Within two months I was contacted by a museum and another local shop, asking if I’d be willing to sell my pieces in their stores.
- How does it feel that people are buying or into something that you're passionate about?
I’m really grateful to anyone who gives any of my creations a chance. Whether it’s hearing that people enjoy using my things or if they just think it’s a cool design or color, I’m deeply appreciative. I try to make things that are comfortable to use, interesting to look at, a little bit “off” and noticeably handmade. My taste might be odd and my applications may be different, so for people to actually like and use my pieces makes me feel like I’m doing something weird in a good way.
- How do you come up with new ideas or designs? What would you say is your creative process?
Inspiration comes at weird times. We could be sitting at an old restaurant and the textured lines of the wood table will give me an idea. The long shadows of my plants along the floor will make me think of painting crazy lines with glaze. I try to be open to aesthetics, be it good or bad, and note it down to try on a future piece.
Also, traveling. Once I started traveling, I started seeing how local artists, restaurants, bars, designers, and makers differentiated themselves from other parts of the world to make their own style. For example, in Japan a chawan, or traditional tea bowl, might seem rough and mottled to the point where it looks like it was made a hundred years ago. In England, tea cups are the opposite; clean lines, bright white, and delicately thin & light. Totally different standards and aesthetics driven by their culture and society. Seeing them in person, and where they came from helps me understand why they designed it the way they did and how I can use that inspiration and put a twist on it. Traveling really opened my eyes to thinking and understanding differently.
As for my creative process, I guess it starts with what I need. Do I need a new bowl because I dropped and broke one? Why did I drop it? Was it too heavy or shaped weird? What can I do to a new one to make it not drop? (And yes, sometimes the answer is I dropped it because I’m an idiot.) How can I make this next bowl cooler than the last one? Has anyone else made a bowl like this? After that I’ll actually make a couple, refining each one, to see if it’s possible, durable, and able to be made in a decent time frame.
- Does this process or mindset shape how you view the world?
Definitely. Like I said, ceramics require patience. If you mindlessly rush any part of the process you’ll risk poor construction & cracks. The glaze fusing your piece to the kiln shelf, your piece (literally) exploding during firing, damaging the kiln, and getting burned. Slowing down, keeping an open mind, and traveling have completely changed the way I see things now compared to a decade ago. With patience came some much needed introspection - something everyone could use sooner than later.
- With the craziness and social climate today how does art help? Can it help the world?
2020 has hit the US hard having to deal with the pandemic, the BLM movement, and the government’s lackluster performance. Latent racism and egotistical privilege throughout the country was highlighted. Art and photography helped get the messages out.
You can see Justin’s work at Hangbot
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