January 11, 2010

seoul love

some of my favourite Seoul snaps

The New York Times has released a list of the 31 places to go in 2010. Luckily, I'm already living near #3 on the list - Seoul, South Korea. While I'm not surprised that this fantastic, design savvy city scored so highly, Korea is considered to be Asia's best kept secret (or so it says on the souvenir t-shirts sold at the airport), so I thought I'd share this little piece with you:

Forget Tokyo. Design aficionados are now heading to Seoul.

They have been drawn by the Korean capital’s glammed-up cafes and restaurants, immaculate art galleries and monumental fashion palaces like the sprawling outpost of Milan’s 10 Corso Como and the widely noted Ann Demeulemeester store — an avant-garde Chia Pet covered in vegetation.

And now Seoul, under its design-obsessed mayor, Oh Se-hoon, is the 2010 World Design Capital. The title, bestowed by a prominent council of industrial designers, means a year’s worth of design parties, exhibitions, conferences and other revelries. Most are still being planned (go to wdc2010.seoul.go.kr for updates). A highlight will no doubt be the third annual Seoul Design Fair (Sept. 17 to Oct. 7), the city’s answer to the design weeks in Milan and New York, which last year drew 2.5 million people and featured a cavalcade of events under two enormous inflatable structures set up at the city’s Olympic stadium.

Is this enough incentive to come for a visit?

3 comments:

  1. oooooh i just love this! - I never imagined that Korea was so design savvy until I started living vicariously through your beautiful photos.... and am already in the process of swindling myself a visit don't you worry xo

    ReplyDelete
  2. yo! yukyung bought the flat shoes! you also got it? i just envied her to buy that. you know i couldn't buy because of my giate footT-T

    ReplyDelete
  3. haha, jin - nooo, I didn't buy them! only took a picture (remember, my feet are giant, too!)

    ReplyDelete