How Studio Studio of Seoul, Korea, Designs Away the Clutter and Distractions of a Busy City

Calling upon disparate influences such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Max Lamb, and Kazuo Shinohara, Do Gwanghun of the South Korean double-named Studio Studio insists that his projects do not have a particular through line. In our conversation, though, he reveals that his design ethos comes from the vantage point of that which is concealed in order to heighten the experience.

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06.08.21

Sighted

The Designer Making Chairs From Discarded Puffy Coats

If you're like me — and by that I mean you spent a very cold, COVID-filled winter socializing outside — you might be ready to never see a padded puffy coat again. But I was thoroughly charmed by the work of South Korean designer Jinyeong Yeon, who uses padded goose down jackets, which remained unsold by fashion brands and manufacturers, as upholstery for his series of puffy chairs.

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07.16.20

Up and Coming

Meet the South Korean Designer Making Furniture From Lacquered Volcanic Stone

Seven years ago, Seoul-born Jeongseob Kim set out to find a niche that would define his identity as an independent designer. He began experimenting with using black or brightly colored cement to fill in the cracks and crevices created in the process of making cast-concrete stools, lamps, and tabletops. Calling the project Emergence, though, turned out to be prescient — rather than being his sole calling card, it ended up inspiring a body of work that draws on similar ideas but is even more layered and process-driven.

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03.12.20

Up and Coming

This South Korean Designer Finds Process and Potential In Colored Acrylic

Seoul-based Sohyun Yun is first and foremost an advocate for what she calls "intuitive" design — work that looks and feels like it wants to be looked at and felt. Her pieces are by turns ecstatic and empathic, tethered to tradition but not beholden to it.

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12.09.19

Current Obsession

This South Korean Furniture Collection Proves Tiny Pleats are the Defining Trend of 2019

The first time I saw South Korean designer Chiho Cheon's lacquered cement and corrugated cardboard Criteria chairs, I joked to Monica that they were the furniture equivalent of Issey Miyake's ready-to-wear cult-favorite Pleats Please brand. Now that I've seen Cheon's extension of the line — tables and chairs in vibrant shades of red, lavender, and robin's egg blue — I stand firmly by that assessment, especially as we've seen tiny plissé folds take over everything from fashion to architecture in 2019.

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07.17.19

Sighted

This Tubular Furniture is Made From the Most Basic Construction Material You Can Imagine

Coils and springs are bouncing around the current design trend Zeitgeist — or at least we've seen enough of them lately that we started a Pinterest board to keep track — but Korean designer Greem Jeong's take on them might be our favorite application yet. Her Mono series employs silicone tubes — typically an industrial material that's used to protect wires or pipes — that are here wrapped around a steel core form everything from table bases to a stiff bench, in colors that range from velvety blue to brilliant banana yellow.

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11.07.18

Sighted

Dramatically Dyed Acrylic Vases, Injecting Nature Into an Otherwise Industrial Process

Saerom Yoon's latest series of dyed acrylic vases, called Shimmering Lake of Flowers at Dusk, employ a texture — which can mimic rippling water, frozen ice, and tree bark — to striking effect. In each piece, gradient bricks of the tempered acrylic are grouped in various orientations, with some hovering dramatically almost in mid-air.

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08.28.18

Sighted

The South Korean Designer Making “Art Futons” A Thing

Sang Hoon Kim's Foam Series is a collection of seats, bookcases, chaises, tables, and even rugs made from colorful, flexible memory foam that's mixed in varying solutions to create levels of texture and cushion. The results have a blocky form language that's reminiscent of Kwangho Lee or Max Lamb mixed with the color sensibility of a Chris Schanck; the chaise is a particular favorite, resembling as it does the coolest futon you could ever imagine.

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06.03.16

Up and Coming

You’ll Never Guess What These Ceramics Are Made From

When you first catch sight of the pieces in South Korean artist Jongjin Park's Artistic Stratum ceramic series, it's almost impossible to tell that they're ceramics at all; their textured, layered surfaces call to mind everything from sponges to unsanded wood. But the pieces were in fact made using a technique Park stumbled upon while researching his Master's thesis at Cardiff University in the UK: By painting clay slip onto pieces of paper towel, layering them, applying pigment and then firing them at 1280 degrees, Park creates a masslike trompe l'oeil.

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