Mutzine x Makers offers creative workshops for foreigners
DJ Bowlcut and two Mutzine x Makers participants dig for vinyl records at Dol Record near Dongmyo Station during the Makers field trip. / Courtesy of Mutzine x Makers
By Celeste Kriel
Mutzine magazine is collaborating with local artists and makers on monthly creative workshops, aptly titled Mutzine x Makers, for English speakers in Korea to gain more insight into Korean fashion, music and other artistic endeavors while learning new creative skills.
Gissella Ramirez―Valle, the founder of Mutzine, first came to Korea as an exchange student and K-pop fan in 2010. She came back in 2013 after graduation to teach English for a five-month stint, and started the magazine in 2013, working on it from the U.S.
“I started Mutzine three years ago as an independent magazine about Korean fashion mainly,” she told The Korea Times. “I started with focusing on fashion designers because there wasn't much media concentrating on fashion back then but now we've broadened to focus more on culture because fashion is getting a lot of attention from other media sources these days which is great.”
The online magazine is a hub for Korean fashion, underground Korean music and youth culture, while the print magazine, which is published quarterly, showcases editorials and more in-depth articles featuring photographers, fashion designers, models and artists. The workshops are an extension of experiencing Korean culture through hands-on experience.
“The magazine is aimed at English speakers living in Korea who are interested in Korean fashion, arts and culture. Mutzine x Makers is basically the same thing, except it's real-life experiences.
If you're consuming a magazine you're just reading about things whereas if you're participating in Makers you are learning something that could be useful for your own life and career and you can also make connections because those workshops help people meet like-minded people,” Ramirez-Valle said.
The first Mutzine x Makers “academy” (as the workshops are known) was held in May and focused on fashion street photography, while last week's academy focused on Korean electronic dance culture and consisted of an intensive one-day DJ workshop with DJ Bowlcut, a lecture on the evolution of Korean dance music from the 1970s onward, and ended in a vinyl-digging field trip with the DJ near Dongmyo Station, where participants had the chance to search for rare Korean vinyl records.
Feedback from the first Korean music-related academy was positive and Ramirez-Valle is making the DJ academy a monthly event, with plans to host other types of creative workshops focusing on graphic design, Korean style, fashion journalism and self-publishing, in collaboration with up-and-coming local artists in the field.
“I have a lot of people asking me what goes into making a magazine, so I'm planning graphic design workshops for people who want to learn layout. Another thing I want to focus on is journalism and creative direction classes _ learning how to write a fashion show review, how to plan a shoot, the basics of interviewing, just basically an academy geared towards creating,” Ramirez-Valle said.
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