You’ve seen her whimsical jelly cakes on Instagram—which she makes by the hundreds for her adoring fans. Now, meet the woman behind it all.by
For our annual “The Originals” issue, we asked creatives—pioneers in the fields of art, design, fashion, comedy, activism, and more—to share their insights on staying true to themselves. Read all of this year’s interviews here.
You’ve made a name for yourself by creating eye-catching, one-of-a-kind cakes that have been featured in Skims and Billie advertisements, and even at the Super Bowl, where The Weeknd was photographed with one of your signature pastel-colored jellies. Before making cakes, you worked in fashion—at Opening Ceremony—and created the brand Phlemuns Nonbasics with James Flemons. How does your fashion background come into play when you’re making cakes?
My parents are actually in the industry too, so I grew up in it. After I finished Phlemuns Nonbasics, I had this idea for experiential dinners with my friends. I had friends in the food industry, and some in fashion, and I wanted to bring them together over a meal, to have a conversation about nunchi, which is a Korean word that doesn’t have a direct translation—it means being aware of your surroundings and picking up on things that aren’t said. Then I just started playing with cakes, and obviously, that took off. Making cakes has a very similar process to fashion design, in the sense of putting colors together.
It’s really big in Korean culture: always having to look out and sense the environment, and be really sensitive, polite, and respectful, knowing when to say things, knowing when to take action. All of that translates under the umbrella of nunchi. It’s a hyperawareness or consideration, being able to read the room.
I did. I grew up in L.A., and even though my parents are pretty Americanized for my generation, those values are so deeply rooted in our culture. A lot of my really Korean friends who grew up mostly in Korea are like, “You’re so Korean,” and I always felt that.
Originally, I wanted to pickle in jelly, because Korean food is all about fermentation, and I had this idea that it would be really cool to suspend cabbage in a brine of jelly, and see how it would turn over time. A lot of it was more conceptual—it wasn’t actually going to be edible. Now I’m going to Korea for six weeks, and I’ll be relearning my culture, learning how to make food properly, and then testing things out. My long-term dream is to have my own farm—and, actually, I’ll be opening up a space in LA soon, where I can redirect Eat Nunchi to do what I originally planned on doing, which is hosting dinners and growing my own vegetables and fruits. We’ll also have some retail, marketplace element to it, and I’m launching clothing, as well as products with other brands.
I feel like kind of a late bloomer. It took working out of the house and pumping out cakes to really think about, Where do I want to take this? Before, I was always thinking, How can I make my parents happy? How can I make my friends happy? And I never asked myself, What will make me happy? I’m just beginning that journey.
I don’t really have celebrity crushes, and I don’t idolize anyone in fashion. The only person I’ve always looked up to since I was a little kid is Oprah. I’ve watched every episode of her shows, and I want to be in one of them. There is no other Oprah. Even she and Stedman are an inspiration. Everyone says to me, “Oh, when are you getting married?” And I’m like, “I don’t know. Oprah and Stedman are not married.”
I feel like kind of a late bloomer. It took working out of the house and pumping out cakes to really think about, Where do I want to take this? Before, I was always thinking, How can I make my parents happy? How can I make my friends happy? And I never asked myself, What will make me happy? I’m just beginning that journey.
My parents are actually in the industry too, so I grew up in it. After I finished Phlemuns Nonbasics, I had this idea for experiential dinners with my friends. I had friends in the food industry, and some in fashion, and I wanted to bring them together over a meal, to have a conversation about nunchi, which is a Korean word that doesn’t have a direct translation—it means being aware of your surroundings and picking up on things that aren’t said. Then I just started playing with cakes, and obviously, that took off. Making cakes has a very similar process to fashion design, in the sense of putting colors together.
You’ve made a name for yourself by creating eye-catching, one-of-a-kind cakes that have been featured in Skims and Billie advertisements, and even at the Super Bowl, where The Weeknd was photographed with one of your signature pastel-colored jellies. Before making cakes, you worked in fashion—at Opening Ceremony—and created the brand Phlemuns Nonbasics with James Flemons. How does your fashion background come into play when you’re making cakes?
I did. I grew up in L.A., and even though my parents are pretty Americanized for my generation, those values are so deeply rooted in our culture. A lot of my really Korean friends who grew up mostly in Korea are like, “You’re so Korean,” and I always felt that.
Originally, I wanted to pickle in jelly, because Korean food is all about fermentation, and I had this idea that it would be really cool to suspend cabbage in a brine of jelly, and see how it would turn over time. A lot of it was more conceptual—it wasn’t actually going to be edible. Now I’m going to Korea for six weeks, and I’ll be relearning my culture, learning how to make food properly, and then testing things out. My long-term dream is to have my own farm—and, actually, I’ll be opening up a space in LA soon, where I can redirect Eat Nunchi to do what I originally planned on doing, which is hosting dinners and growing my own vegetables and fruits. We’ll also have some retail, marketplace element to it, and I’m launching clothing, as well as products with other brands.
You may have already seen Nünchi’s cakes, even if you haven’t gotten to try them yet. Pastel shades come together with suspended clouds, daisies, bunny faces and local, seasonal fruit. A snail-shaped cake has flowers and mushrooms inside it, while a hyper-realistic purple corn cob bedecked with petals is one of the artist’s most cherished works. All of these creations are made of jelly, one example of 2020’s inclination towards soft-hued, off-kilter baked goods.
Park, who started Nünchi in July 2019, now makes about 200 cakes a month in her home kitchen, supplying both a la carte and custom orders. Each one is completely different, based on what Park has available and her inspiration. She sources local and fresh ingredients from her farmer’s market in Santa Monica or Hollywood. “Some people want the same thing, over and over again,” she explains. “I try to tell them, I dont really want to be making the same cakes over and over again. But what’s cool is theyll tell me, it’s for this person and heres their Instagram, and that will kind of spawn something and Ill kind of go off of that. I like making each cake pretty personal for whos eating it.”Most Popular
Lexie Park started Nünchi after growing tired of working in fashion. “My moms a fashion designer and I kind of grew up in the business and then went off and did my own thing, working for Opening Ceremony,” she explains. She later co-founded a brand called Phlemuns Nonbasics (which now lives on through cofounder James Flemons). “I turned 30 and had a quarter midlife crisis moment and decided I wanted to switch careers. I just wanted to start playing around with food.”
Those textures have resulted in endless regrams, and captured the attention of brands. Park was recently commissioned to make cakes for Nike, as well as the shaving company Billie, and has more top secret fashion collaborations coming before the end of the year. She also just launched her first dessert available at a restaurant. The aforementioned violet-blue corn on the cob is made of almond jelly sitting in a chicha morada syrup, a popular Peruvian beverage made from purple corn. It will be available at Opening Ceremony Founder Humberto Leon’s new restaurant, Chifa.
Jelly cakes, once considered woefully retro (in the U.S., at least), are having an Instagram renaissance. But they weren’t Park’s first idea. She originally started cooking original recipes both sweet and savory, from jerky to spring rolls, before seeing a huge demand for her cakes. “I have no background in food,” she says. “Im just a home cook. So whenever I had an idea, I would just ask someone I knew to kind of guide me, and I would just put it on Instagram and see what happened.”
Crafting floral jelly cakes with former Malaysian architect turned 3D dessert artist
FAQ
Is a jelly cake just jello?
What is the meaning of jelly cake?
How many cakes does nünchi make a month?
Park, who started Nünchi in July 2019, now makes about 200 cakes a month in her home kitchen, supplying both a la carte and custom orders. Each one is completely different, based on what Park has available and her inspiration. She sources local and fresh ingredients from her farmer’s market in Santa Monica or Hollywood.
What does nunchi mean?
It’s a heightened form of emotional intelligence and social awareness. Hong explains that everyone possesses nunchi and emphasizes the concept as the power of the underdog. “There’s a Korean expression, nunchi is a secret weapon of the disadvantaged,” Hong told NBC News.
What does ‘nunchi’ mean in Korean music?
“Nunchi means leaving your ego at the door. It’s the only way to figure out what is going on; it’s pragmatic.” The term is common in contemporary Korean pop culture. Numerous Korean pop songs reference nunchi, including Sam Kim’s “No nunchi (No sense),” featuring Crush, and TWICE’s hit, “Signal.”
Is nunchi a good thing?
“Nunchi is perfect for improving your life, and you can without any privileges or education. It’s better honed if you don’t have any of those things.” On a practical level, it’s about plugging into your environment, whether at a party, the office, or among family, she said. “Nunchi means leaving your ego at the door.