The vistas of my mountain adventures around southern British Columbia have long been punctuated by the iconic peak of Black Tusk: a haunting, jagged outcrop sitting atop Garibaldi Park. Terrifying and majestic, it called out to me like a beacon — challenging me to climb it while I can.
I should tell you: I am not a rock climber. I have too much self-preservation for that. The Tusk’s climb is considered more of a scramble. Think beginner level climbing wall at gym, just without the ropes (so much for self-preservation).
On the hike, I suddenly remembered that as a child, my drawings and stories had a recurring character: a mountaineering girl named Kathy. Kathy was the anglicized version of my grandmother’s name, Kyung Ja, and I somehow thought that was just the coolest name a girl could have. She wore cargo pants, a sweater with a mountain on it, and a utility belt with climbing gear. Her days were spent summiting the world’s tallest and most epic peaks with a swath of matching characters who lived in her adventurous world.
If I can find drawings of Kathy, I will add them!
I dreamt of this life from the complete flats of southern Ontario. I’m not sure I had ever even seen a mountain in real life at that point. Now I live in Beautiful British Columbia. Every morning I wake up and see the ocean. Many days, I walk in the forest under a 200ft tree canopy. My weekend trips include surfing, swimming holes, and these larger than life hikes.
And yet, as a designer and a woman of culture, I have often wrestled with the question if Vancouver is right for me. Between my time drawing Kathy and now, I fell in love with art, theatre, architecture, and the cultural capitals known to showcase them at their highest. Vancouver is known as the sleepy nature city. Design culture is here, but it’s quieter — a small fish in a very big pond. Could one really centre a creative life here?
In Garibaldi Park, the answer to that question is always a resounding yes. A visit to its magical moonscapes and turquoise blue lakes was the catalyst for my last return to BC in 2025. The mountains move me in a strikingly similar way as an evocative art exhibit or a musical crescendo — perhaps even more so. It was in BC that my creative life actually bloomed… twice.
The first bloom was in 2018, when I moved out here for architecture school. My academic background was in art history and urban geography: the study of creativity rather than the practice of it. I knew how to think and communicate about design, but not how to craft and create. Under the intense pressure of architecture school, I found a creative voice, and a creative life source: nature. Rather than spend sleepless nights in the studio trying to perfect a project, I took a walk in the woods, a snowy ride down the mountain, or a weekend surf trip. I’d return to the studio with a fresh mind and fresh ideas that moved my projects more than the grueling studio hours would have.
The second bloom was my return in 2025, when Nat Kim Studio truly came to life. In a new apartment soaked with sunset, I’ve been building (and now sharing) my sanctuary. For our 2025 wedding, my husband and I created the founding object of the studio: the Byeongpung. These creative propulsions required us to be living joyfully, in nature.
As my practice grows, I still dream of showing work in Paris, Milan, New York, and the like. I still dream of those stages central to design culture; but the mountains are the creative life force that makes the work I show there my own. I am a mountain girl. And remembering Kathy, I clearly always have been.
I believe that everyone has a natural element (or three) that moves their creative spirit. What is your big three? I am a mountain sun, forest moon, and ocean rising. The mountains make me feel powerful and humble. The forest brings me calm and understanding. The ocean captures my volatility and vastness. Living with all three goes deeper than just inspiration. It allows my practice to come from a place of being truly well.
If you are a Vancouverite that connects with these words, come find me! I used to think culture was something a city just handed to you, but it is created and nurtured by aligned people with a shared vision. A vision supported by the grounding muse that is the mountains: that is creative utopia.