Seoul Design Week to go abroad in 2016

Published : Dec 7, 2015 - 18:04 Updated : Dec 7, 2015 - 20:34

Seoul Design Week, South Korea’s largest public design festival, will seek to scale up the event regionally with its counterpart in Beijing.

The plan was unveiled with the closure of the 2015 SDW, organized by the Seoul Design Foundation, on Sunday.

Visitors look at design-savvy items displayed at Seoul Design Market on Sunday, which was held at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza as part of the 2015 Seoul Design Week. (Seoul Design Foundation)

Seoul Design Week is planning to set up a “Seoul Pavilion” at the 2016 Beijing Design Week next year in an aim to introduce Korean design innovation to international designers and related officials, according to SDF.

“Seoul Design Week will continue to improve to become the best design festival for the public,” said SDF CEO Lee Keun. “We plan to nurture the Seoul-based design event as Asia’s representative design festival and lend a hand in elevating Seoul as a leading design city.”

According to the foundation, the 2015 Seoul Design Week, held Dec. 2-6 under the slogan “Seoul’s Design Wizard,” brought together some 450 local design companies and launched 30 design-related programs ranging from design forums, markets, fairs and seminars to a networking party for designers and the public.

The second annual design festival took place at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Coex and a number of galleries and showrooms across Seoul, drawing some 370,000 spectators, SDF said.

The Design Mate program showcased innovative design items produced by ordinary designers at diverse venues across the city while the Young Designers Zone at DDP featured unique design goods made by the country’s up-and-coming young designers.

Visitors look at an exhibition inside Dongdaemun Design Plaza held as part of the 2015 Seoul Design Week. (Seoul Design Foundation)

The inaugural Universal Design Fair at DDP, a large-scale experience-centered exhibition, particularly received positive reviews, while the Designer’s Party at the same venue brought design a step closer to the larger public, according to SDF.

“The DDP reinstated itself as a gathering spot for the city’s design and fashion gurus, bringing together not just professional designers but ordinary people who design their own lives every day,” a SDF official said.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)