How small studios stay independent in Korea

Despite the number of small businesses in operation in Korea, it’s still a hard economy to operate within independently. Korean 재벌 Chaebol conglomerates control a huge portion of business in the country and many companies operate on contracts from them. After the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, many designers struck out on their own and there had been a successful generation of small studios, but few remain active today.

Despite a healthy cultural sector, it’s hard for designers to be active outside of Korea’s dominant commercial system. Running an independent design studio is increasingly hard in any economy, but Korean designers have been responding to economic shifts in the spirit of small business. Several studios have taken their experiences in design and applied them to their own ventures. From conversations with designers and observations on the scene, the shape of independent projects varies greatly. Some designers appear to be seeking creative change, while others seriously convert their client services into something of their own. Whatever the method, the steps Korean designers are taking are inspiring.

Studio Double-D has built ventures that directly capitalise on its experience in design. Run by 허민재 Huh Minjae, the studio has a large footprint in Korean branding, while maintaining a small studio culture. In 2022, Double-D embarked on creating an internally produced project with an eye on the future. Huh and Double-D launched the Be(Attitude)* brand with a dual web magazine and shop plan (*full disclosure, I was part of the launch team and maintained an editorial position through the first year of the web magazine). In what began as a passion project and experiment, Huh’s team was able to see where culture and consumers were moving through both sides of the brand, thanks to deep analytics and conscious audience review. Through this twin strategy, Double-D built a project that was a creative outlet, within its own control, and established a new brand identity that ran alongside its main studio client work. Recently, the media side of Be(Attitude) has been sold and from this venture a new life was born, Nupip.

Nupip is a brand that produces and sells accessories for Crocs and other small products. The brand evolves the fun, frivolous and weird curation found in the Be(Attitude) shop and narrows in on a single product category. What I see is a combination of all the design strategies of a branding agency, a boutique shop and media outlet at work in Nupip. When I asked Huh about forming Nupip, she articulated that “the core goal is to go beyond just selling products and provide consumers with small daily pleasures and inspiration.” With Nupip, the brand embodies the media and product thinking that Double-D developed in Be(Attitude) at play in a singular brand.

In a similar fashion, the graphic design studio 버검 Vergum has transformed its practice through a mixture of experience and happenstance. Several years ago, designer 정연중 Chung Yeonjung built a small workshop space for his hobby of woodworking and bought a 3D printer. He had the idea of 3D printing a five-centimetre pollack fish; in Korean tradition, a 액막이 명태 (dried pollack fish) is wrapped with heavy rope and often hung above doors or entryways as a symbol of prosperity and an auspicious ornament to welcome good spirits and fortune on life’s new ventures. To this day, you may spot one of these hanging on a pillar in Korean restaurants. What began as an experiment for Chung became a best-selling cultural keepsake called the Good Luck Fish – rather apt for Vergum’s first product as it did indeed bring good fortune on its new start.

Vergum developed the object of the dried pollack by attaching a magnet to the rear of the sculpture and finishing it with paint and varnish. The 3D printed experiment was transformed into a quality item that embodied Vergum’s value of traditional Korean culture and design sense. The item caught the eye of the buyers at places like the Leeum Museum gift shop. Immediately, there was a recognition of Vergum’s contemporary interpretation of traditional Korean culture. The success of this first item motivated Vergum to evolve its studio into an independent brand: Vergum Making.

“Today, many people find traditional Korean culture stifling and stale,” Chung tells me. “With Vergum Making, we really wanted to challenge that notion by exploring new ways of producing the value of Korean design.” He says he’s long held a love and understanding of Korean design, sharing that “when I studied design in college, I was taught that design was a practical discipline that came from a foreign country. As I learned more about our cultural heritage, I realised that Korea had its own design world that had been accumulated over a long period of time, even though there was no word for design. Perhaps we have been learning design elements that are naturally integrated into our culture.” Building on this belief, Chung and Vergum brought to Vergum Making years of experience working with the very institutions in Korea that preserve and promote traditional culture.

For many years, Vergum operated as a small independent studio. Its main clients have been cultural institutions all over the country including 국립중앙박물관 the National Museum of Korea and the Korean Craft and Design Foundation, amongst many others.

Over the years a small discomfort in his mind kept growing. He confessed that “the design and craft we put so much effort and concern into was quickly forgotten, or discarded,” and this cycle felt unsustainable. When asked about the motivation to build a brand he summarily says, “I was tired of draining client work and uncomfortable with the idea of having to rely on someone for my livelihood.” With Vergum Making, he’s asked his small studio members to take a risk and it’s proving to be worth the effort.

Not all of the ventures of Korean designers are direct 1:1 projects. Recently, Triangle-Studio set out into the crowded cafe business with its space (1)by3 Firstbythree. Triangle, a small studio run by Kisung Jang, has been in operation for over 13 years and when combined with his freelance work, he’s been a designer for over 20. He has maintained a steady presence in the Korean design world and throughout that time has held a place in the 망원동 Mangwon-dong neighbourhood.

Mangwon-dong has historically been a working class area of Seoul occupied with a heavy presence of Taiwanese-Koreans. As the area around Hongik University started to gentrify and become a cultural hot spot, it was only natural that business and customers would flow over. The neighbourhood defined by small streets and alleys transformed into a major hub of activity. In the Mangwon area you can find a Michelin guide yakitori restaurant, next to a 30-year-old Chinese restaurant surrounded by small cafes. Triangle-Studio and Jang have long maintained their studios in this neighbourhood and in some ways the location has come to define their practice. So, why would Triangle-Studio jump into the crowded landscape of cafes?

Jang shares that over the years running the studio, he felt that “I’ve been producing work for others for over 20 years. Throughout that time I’ve always craved to make work for myself and a space for me.” He elaborates that, “coffee and cigarettes are inseparable from my daily life. So, two years ago I combined my desires and habits into a place just down the street from my home.” (1)by3 Firstbythree is both straightforward and abstract in that the space primarily operates as a cafe. But even Jang admits that he is a maker more than a business person. This explains an ambition for (1)by3 Firstbythree to be a place that’s an “aesthetic space for creators that encourages creative exploration and reflection”. This conceptual thinking is present in the naming, meaning that (1)by3 Firstbythree is the first of many from the three-sided studio.

After several years of operating (1)by3 Firstbythree, Jang shares that the cafe is still not making a profit. Yet, he finds great joy in the overlap between selling coffee and designing brand systems. “I think the thought process is similar in that you’re ultimately trying to create a positive human experience.” With that central understanding Jang navigates the rewards and differences between running Triangle-Studio and (1)by3 Firstbythree.

What aligns all the designers in their entrepreneurial pursuits are several realisations about operating as a designer in Korea. Huh observes around her that many Korean designers retire from design in their 40s. At this young age, few are sitting on a bounty of retirement savings or assets, so many carry a heavy burden about survival and continued career advancement. Chung admits a similar anxiety as Vergum matured in age and saw more and more young designers winning project bids from the same clients they had long served.

All three recognise that they had accumulated skills over time and had built their practices to a place where they could build their own evolutions. As designers, the practical and personal bounce back-and-forth in their thoughts. Behind this dance for balance these designers took action about their anxieties around sustainability, longevity, financial independence and creative freedom. Korea is a small country and despite operating at a global scale, there is always a strong sense of precarity in the economy and culture. It is within this environment that Korean designers are striving to create, and to work with independence is a constant struggle.

Closer Look

Courtesy of James, here’s some not-to-be-missed cultural events and places to visit in Seoul, if you’re lucky enough to be there soon.

• The dance music and club scene keeps growing in Seoul. The Internatiiional is a creative collective who have been putting on great nights throughout the city. Check out them for their next event as it’s sure to delight any design-minded music lover.

• The Seoul Museum of Art opened their newest space in Photo SeMA in May. The museum was 10 years in the making and is housed in a new building designed by Austrian architect Mladen Jadric.

• Unlimited Edition 17 will be coming this fall, opening November 14th and running until the 16th. Seventeen years running, it is a serious event for art and book lovers from all over the world.