Inaugural Define: Seoul brings design, fine art to youthful Seoul neighborhood

Amid a sea of fashionable pop-up stores and cafes attracting youthful trendsetters, a new boutique fair, Define: Seoul, has debuted this week in Seongsu-dong, eastern Seoul.

Launched by Art Busan, one of Korea’s leading art fairs based in the southeastern port city, the fair brands itself as marrying fine art with design – including decor, furniture and crafts – to attract a visibly growing number of young collectors in the country.

The five-day event is anchored around three experimental studio venues in the vibrant neighborhood – Layer 27, Layer 41 and Andy’s 636 – inviting 25 galleries and design brands from home and abroad.

As the fair kicked off on Wednesday afternoon, a stylish crowd of young visitors clad in autumnal shades of beige and black arrived in groups by van taxis or on foot.

Under the theme of “A Look within Matter,” participating galleries and brands have put forth their own interpretations of the fusion of art and design, with some efforts more successful than others.

Kar Studio’s pitch-black, lacquered ash wood furniture engages in a thoughtful dialogue with Akio Igarashi’s meditative grayscale paintings at a booth organized by the international design and art gallery Galerie Philia.

Adjacent to this, Whitestone Gallery, which became the first Japanese dealer to establish an outpost in Korea earlier this fall, orchestrates a conversation among celebrated minimalist Lee U-fan's canvas works, sculptor Masayuki Tsubota's uniquely textured columns and ceramicist Shin Won-dong’s moon jars.

Some art galleries strove to infuse design into their booth layouts. Kukje Gallery presents a solo show by Hong Seung-hye, whose colorful, geometric furniture is inspired by her own 2D-printed images, while Portuguese dealer Duarte Sequeira reproduced his own art-filled living room.

Meanwhile, this is the first time for Cheyul, a high-end Korean heritage brand, to partake in an art fair alongside other fine art galleries, according to CEO Lee Jeong-eun. The brand's handicrafts have previously been offered as official state gifts to foreign dignitaries, including former U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping. For its booth, Cheyul showcases a mix of mother-of-pearl cabinets with peony patterns, lacquered stools and handcrafted wooden bags.

For the Italian-British design duo Giopato & Coombes, Define: Seoul marks their official debut showcase at a fair in the country. The studio has brought its latest line of hand-blown lighting sculptures – crafted from a blend of Korean LEDs, as well as glass, marble and blackened brass sourced from Veneto, Italy.

Their “DAL Drawing a Line” series is “like a three-dimensional calligraphy,” industrial designer Christopher Coombes told The Korea Times. “We found a similarity between how we work and what we understand from some Korean artists like Lee Bae.”

Another piece on display is titled “Maehwa,” as it was inspired by a journey the couple took in Seoul around four years ago when they came across branches adorned with plum blossoms.

“For the last five years, we've been coming regularly to Korea, because of the creative spirit that exists here right now in terms of art and architecture,” he added.

Complementing the fair's offerings is the thematic exhibition “Beautiful Endurance and Resonance through Wood,” highlighting the distinctive woodworks of two Korean artisans, Park Hong-gu and Na Jeom-soo.

“Wood aptly represents the depth that objects carry,” noted Teo Yang, the inaugural fair’s artistic director and curator of the show. “The works of these two artists epitomize the enduring efforts made to understand this intricate material.”

Define: Seoul runs through Sunday.