Seoul Living Design Fair

This past weekend I went to the COEX center to see the Seoul Living Design Fair, which exhibits various industrial design objects. From woodworks to ceramic, from chairs to jump ropes, from abstract pieces or installations to items that're also for sale, from large corporates such as ZEN and ILOOM to student projects, anything that you might think of related to daily living were the motifs for this fair.


I took lots of pictures, of course, as did most of the people visiting. But regretably, there was no way to take pictures for the entire events because one, it was a fairly large event and two, there were many photography-restricted areas as well. Plus, the booths and exhibition rooms were fairly dim. In general, I found that Korean designers like soft colors and have a knack for natural, pastel tones like warm yellow, wood colors, and brown. Natural white ceramics were common also. I also enjoyed the detailed works, as many of the designers seemed more detail-oriented than concept-oriented, though there were fair bit of conceptual exhibitions or installations.


Aesthetically, the designs are very simple. The back-to-the-basics trend seems like the contemporary code for the modern Korean designers. Functionally, this proves that minimalism works and I'm in favor, but I did wish there were more diversity and expression. Most of the pieces were simply a corporeal matter; I had hoped there would be pieces that would raise certain questions, answer a tangible question, inventions, design-derived technological innovations, and so on. For example, since Koreans like wood, how about a wooden hat? It won't sell, but it's an exhibition. I think the designers have the right to brag, show-off, the freedom to design anything however useless, make a statement, or even threaten its users or clients. Like a timer that starts to chew on your desk when it goes off. Yea, how about that.

As a whole, I did enjoy it. It was fun to get out of Daejeon and travel a little, knowing that I won't even be able to enjoy my weekends in April due to my work schedule. But again, like I said, I hoped there there were more pieces that would raise certain questions, answer a tangible question, inventions, design-derived technological innovations, and so on. The biggest disappointment for me was seeing the Korean industrial design trend out of touch from eco-design and sustainability. Creativity and artistic skills aside, I hoped to see how Korean designers have approached the environmental issues around the world today.