In the mid-to-late twentieth century, South Korean ceramists began to depart from traditional techniques, drawing significant influence from the Californian clay movement led by Peter Voulkos (1924–2002) in the United States. The American movement championed avant-garde, experimental ceramics that diverged from conventional practices and was itself inspired by the Japanese Sodeisha group led by Yagi Kazuo (1918–1979). Rejecting locality-based craft traditions, South Korean ceramists emphasized individual creativity and experimentation, seeking to blur the boundaries between tradition and innovation and to elevate ceramics to the level of universal art. However, occupying an ambiguous position between craft and fine art, these artists achieved little commercial success, and by the early twenty-first century, their work had largely faded from public view.