Design award to highlight 60 years of Sweden-Korea friendship

By Yi Whan-woo

The Embassy of Sweden in Seoul, jointly with IKEA Korea and Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP), will host a design contest next month for young and talented Korean designers.

The inaugural Korea+Sweden Young Design Award will be held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“World-class design is just one of many areas where Sweden and Korea share commonalities,” Swedish Ambassador to Korea Jakob Hallgren said during a press conference at his residence in Seoul on Feb. 12.

He hoped the award will strengthen the long-term collaboration in design and style between the two countries, saying “I look forward to seeing beautiful, inclusive and creative design ideas that the many talented young Koreans designers will come up with.”

Any Korean students or designers aged 34 and under in any fields, such as graphics, architecture, furniture and textiles, can submit up to three designs related to the theme of the contest, inclusiveness.

The registration will open in mid-March and run through April 11.

All applications within the field of design and form, with the exception of food and music, will be accepted.

The concepts or images of designs should to be submitted to the official website (ksyda.com), along with an explanatory statement of the work and self-introduction of the applicants. Both Korean and English applications will be accepted.

Winners will be selected by a jury committee consisting of 10 members, including committee leader and also award-winning creative designer Cho Kyu-hyung, Ambassador Hallgren, IKEA’s Creative Manager Asa Hederberg and IKEA Korea’s Country Marketing Manager Nicolas Johnsson.

The jury committee will announce the three winners in late May.

The three will win a trip to Sweden, join design exhibitions there and receive other support “to grow in the global arena.”

IKEA Korea Deputy Retail Manager Fredrik Johansson said the contest will be a chance to interact with “young and promising designers who will lead the future of design in Korea.”

“Based on our democratic design philosophy, we will continue our work to make well-designed, functional home furnishings products affordable for the many at low price, and co-create an innovative, sustainable better future marked by design,” he said.

KIDP President Eune Ju-hyun said the contest is expected to contribute to “a deeper cultural diplomacy between Korea and Sweden” while serving as “the stepping stone for K-design to spread into the rest of the world, in pursuit of becoming the future Nobel Prize in design.”

The Korea+Sweden Young Design Award will be held every year under a different theme based on the three key values of innovation, sustainability and a better future.

This year’s theme was picked to promote an idea that great design should be available to everyone regardless of age, gender or background.

The Swedish embassy and KIDP signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2018 and have worked on the contest since then.

The Seoul branch of international home-furnishing giant IKEA has joined the project because IKEA is not only a well-known Swedish company but also because the company “leads Swedish way of life and value,” according to Ambassador Hallgren.

Such values range from working rights to gender equality to sustainability.

“I’m so pleased IKEA, which is a very strong brand, has been able to renew, refresh and take that (Sweden-Korea) relations to a community level,” he said.

He defined Swedish design as minimalist and functional.

He assessed Sweden and Korea share similarities in their designs as they “put strong emphasis” on premium quality, but at the same time are modest and humble.