Rimm Chae works with decorative materials such as semi-precious mother-of-pearl as well as with lacquer, a traditionally functional material. Both of these mediums date back to traditional times, aiding Chae in embodying both the past and present. 

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After 20 years of experience as a jewelry designer, Rimm Chae began creating “sculptural paintings," bringing both painting and sculpture together into one. More recently, Chae has started to take an adverse approach by deconstructing and separating these two genres in her art. While her previous work focused on the lacquer’s traditional smooth finish, some of her recent work emphasizes color and texture. Although Chae’s work is based on traditional Korean lacquer paintings, her bold use of color and repetition of points and lines connects these paintings to Western artistic styles.

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While the traditional Najeonchilgi technique involves attaching mother-of-pearl to surfaces with a hot iron, Chae's work pursues a unique form of beauty created by setting the mother-of-pearl onto a lacquered canvas with silver prongs. Thus, each piece created is both flat and voluminous, traditional and contemporary, painting-like and sculptural all at the same time. By pairing lacquer with semi-precious stones such as coral, amber, jade, lapis lazuli, tiger’s eye, and turquoise, Rimm Chae's art lies at the crux of painting and sculpture, of functional design and decorative art.

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Rimm Chae received the Leonardo Da Vinci Award in Florence, Italy. Her works were also exhibited at the Start Art Fair held at London’s Saatchi Gallery in 2017. She became the first Korean artist to win the SOLO Award at the Artexpo New York. The International André Malraux Association also awarded her at the International Cultural Heritage Fair held in Paris. She has successfully held numerous solo exhibitions in Seoul, New York, and Paris. Her artwork has also been well-received at leading art fairs in Miami, Barcelona, Singapore, Cologne, Taipei, London, Brussels, and Toulouse.

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