Kosign and Cafe Show

I woke up this past Sunday extra early to go check out some exhibitions at the COEX convention center. Initially, I wanted to check out only the KOSIGN, or the Korean International Sign & Design Show. When I went, I was hoping to see mixes of typography, visual media, and designer posters. The name of the event and the description online deceived me though. I went in and I saw hundreds of printers. All kinds of printers. Your traditional office-use printers to commercial-use printers. 3D printers, 'printers' that can machine letters out of aluminum or steel on demand, laser printers, and so on. I must say the 3D printers are sweet though. When I went, they weren't doing any demos so I couldn't see it first hand, but they had printed products on display, or should I just say sculptures on display. That's what 3D printing is, anyway. Commercial and more sophisticated version of CNC.

I didn't stay at KOSIGN for long. It burned a hole in my pocket; I wasn't happy I went, but I knew there was a Cafe Show going on downstairs. So instead of leaving ever so shortly, I decided to check the Cafe Show out as well. I'm not a coffee person; I'm a tea guy. But hey, it's not like coffee and tea are held in opposition to each other. So I hurried along and joined in all the caffein addicts, and to my surprise there were other things beside just coffee as well. There were plenty booths with teas, bakery, juices, cookies and bits, ice creams and gelatos, and interior designing of cafes. However, of course, the dominant aroma at the convention was from the coffee and espressos.

There was a Chevy-truck-turned-into-cafe cafe. There were espresso machines in all types of sizes and shapes. There were definitely some sort of alchemy involved in some of the booths, or at least that's what it seemed like especially to the untrained eyes, like mine. Arrays of flavor shots that cover an entire wall. Coffee beans from countries I've never even heard before. And descriptions of hundreds of way to roast and process coffee beans. They were also hosting the 'Korea Barista Championship'. It was overwhelming but fun peeking into an unfamiliar niche.

Now only if there was a convention for carpentry or luthiery, specifically guitar-building.