SWISS–KOREA SOUVENIR MARKET 2023
THEME: blooming friendship between Switzerland and Korea
DATE: 2023.12.9. AM11–PM6
PLACE: SWISS EMBASSY SEOUL
20 Designers + 16 Items
Chelsea Jihong Park
Yesul Jang
Mingoo Yoon
Minoh Song
Yeyeon Park
Youjeong Jeong & Jakob Reuter
Soyoung Kim
Seungmok Lee
SHINYOUNG BAHC (PHOTO)
Victor Moynier & Amandine Gini
Anne Bachmann
Nina Treichler
Kevin Dizami
Anthony Guex
Eva-Maria-Beer & Flavia Brändle
Laurin Schaffner & Kosha Ahmadi
Milagros Rodriguez
Cattle Vase
Cattle Vase is a flower vase designed with a simple and delicate curved body with two vigorous horns that becomes a soft reminder of the head of the cow. The story of the Cattle Vase started from the Désalpe, one of the most well-known mountain festivals in Switzerland. Désalpe is the event to celebrate the cows coming down after spending summer days from the mountain to the plain. During the event, cattle are decorated with flowers on their heads. Cattle Vase captures this moment when cattles wear flower crowns. When the user arranges flowers on the vase, the Cattle Vase will be a cow from the Désalpe on the table. The color and the silhouette comes from the Korean traditional vase called MaeByeong(매병; lit. Prunus Vase). MaeByoung is a vase created from the 12th(Goryeo dynasty) to 13th(Joseon dynasty) centuries in Korea. The characteristic of the vase is that it has a small opening on top with bulging shoulders, and an elongated body. Color I selected is off white which ties back to representing color of Korean people which also has a the term paegŭiminjok (백의민족; lit. White-clothed People). Designing a product with the background from both countries, Switzerland and Korea makes the product unique and abundant.
Cowbell Keyring
Cowbell Keyring is a reinterpretation of the typical souvenir from Switzerland. The Cowbell Keyring was designed with a sophisticated and mature aesthetic by modifying typical colorful tassels to the off white color and tone. Cowbell Keyring elevates the quality of the souvenir and achieves the breakthrough in the image of the kitsch souvenir shop objects.
Chelsea Jihong Park 🇰🇷
Chelsea Jihong Park is an industrial designer based in Seoul, Korea. She holds a Master’s degree in product design at ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, Switzerland, and Bachelor of Science in industrial design from Art Center College of Design, U.S.Based on her international experience in Los Angeles, Stockholm, Tokyo and Lausanne, she founded HOOA in Seoul in 2017 where she is directing space, furniture, product design and art. She is also an adjunct professor of industrial design at Hanyang University and Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea.
ㅅㅇㅅㅇㅅ
Brilliant white (RGB 255–0–0) cross on the reddest (RGB 255–255–255) background, a foursquare flag, pure blue–𝘈𝘻𝘶𝘭 (RGB 0–0–255) sky contrasting with the red, flags symbolizing each canton, SBB clock consisting only of dots and lines. And eternal flower of the Alps, Edelweiss. These are the images of Switzerland in my memory. Also, the word ‘Switzerland’ in Korean ‘스위스’ conjures up the image of a Swiss mercenary standing tall on a mountain. I translated these images into graphics and used a silkscreen technique to express them on a foursquare piece of notepaper.
MINOH SONG 🇰🇷
Visual designer. Image and story maker. Mainly designing books, posters, Art directing for exhibitions. Based in Seoul, Korea.
Tal Nori Finger Puppets
The Korean Mask Play, or Tal-Nori, originated in Korea in the 12th century or even earlier. The performances, which were originally held to honor the gods, later often addressed social tensions, including satire and mockery of renegade Buddhist priests and the nobility. I was very taken with the strong emotional expression of the masks and the beauty of these ancient, unique traditional rituals. To make the figures a souvenir to take home, I decided to scale them down, keeping the predominant materials wood (masks) and fabric (dresses). Keeping in mind the playful nature of Tal Nori, I decided to use finger puppets instead of dolls.The faces of the five selected figures are hand-stamped, a technique that allows a high repeatability without losing the uniqueness of each piece. The design of the faces is very reduced, dominated by lines and geometric shapes, inspired by the Swiss tradition of typography and design language of the 1950s.The finger puppets and wooden pieces were made in a social workshop in Zurich. The “Marktlücke” supports asylum-seeking women in re-entering the world of work. The faces have been stamped by Anne Bachmann.
Anne Bachmann🇨🇭
AB’s design career began with an apprenticeship as a radiology nurse at Zurich University Hospital. Making the invisible visible began to hold a great fascination. Soon the X-ray images are an important inspiration for private art and design projects and become more relevant than their medical purpose.AB then trains to become an art teacher. And for several years AB is teaching art, drawing and handicrafts. During this time, it is not always clear who is the learner and who is the teacher; with a deep comprehension of the human being in its entirety, she is drawn further.In her industrial design studies at the ZHdK, she acquires the necessary techniques to make the invisible tangible. After all, isn't design the physical manifestation of invisible values and beliefs, of systems, of boundaries, desires and needs? Since 2009 AB has committed herself to Freitag Lab AG, or rather its purpose “Intelligent Design for a Circular Future”: as a Holistic Designer, as a Design Strategist and at times in the roles of Creative Direction and Member of Brand Guidance. AB lives with her family in Zurich.
Departure: Annual Timetable 2024
This timetable was designed its inspiration from Josef Müller-Brockmann’s 1978 “Swiss Federal Railways Design Manual.” Referred to as the International Typographic Style, this highly iconic Swiss design emerged in Switzerland during the 1950s and remains a systematic approach to graphic design that garners international acclaim to this day. With its incorporation of a straightforward grid system and utilization of neo-grotesque sans-serif typefaces, this design serves as a representation of Switzerland’s longstanding tradition of practical design. It continues to find extensive use across Switzerland even in the present day.
MINGOO YOON 🇰🇷
(YMG TYPE FOUNDRY)
Mingoo Yoon is a typeface designer based in Seoul, Korea. He received his bachelor’s degree in graphic design and earned his master’s from ECAL in Switzerland with a research project about bi-script type design for Hangul and Latin alphabets. He worked as a researcher at AG Typography Institute and is currently teaching at Hongik University and Ewha Woman’s University. Collaborating with many internal and external brands and artists, he mainly works with typeface-based graphic design.
THE TICINO
‘The ticino’ is a creatively designed piece of tableware that draws inspiration from the shape of the Ticino wine-producing region in Switzerland and its wine culture enjoying wine. By having both a bowl and a plate integrated into one, it provides a convenient way to store different foods in each space or separate the seeds and shells that accumulate when eating olives or nuts that pair well with wine, helping to keep the wine-drinking experience more enjoyable and tidy. Naming the plate after the Ticino wine-producing region in Switzerland and designing it to resemble the shape of the Ticino region adds a unique touch to the design and meaningful connection to its Swiss cultural inspiration.
SOYOUNG KIM 🇰🇷
(STUDIO SYK)
Studio syk is a design office run by Soyoung Kim. Through experiences accumulated in various design areas, She shapes up studio syk’s aesthetics and presents highly sensitive design works. Along with collaboration for companies and brands, She continues with investigating the regional, cultural, and material issues and exploring aesthetic and functional values to give meaningful insight into society with a new perspective.
Taegeukgi
Taegeukgi is a wooden construction game created for the 2023 Christmas market of the Swiss Embassy in Seoul. Using the symbols present on the Korean flag, the goal of the game is to find the perfect balance between each piece in order to create a harmonious sculpture.
Anthony GUEX🇨🇭
Anthony GUEX is a Swiss product and interior designer based in Lausanne with a focus on product, furniture, and interior design. With over seven years of experience as a cabinetmaker and foreman in the wood industry, he studied interior design at the HEAD-Genève and earned a Master degree in product design from ECAL / University of Art and Design Lausanne in 2015. Anthony divides his time between his design studio and his role as Artistic Deputy at ECAL. He collaborates with national and international brands such as New Tendency, Okro, Tectona, Ecal, and Fogo Island Workshops of the Shorefast Foundation in Newfoundland, Canada.
Basket-Ursli
Basket-Ursli is inspired by the Swiss children’s book ‘Schellen-Ursli’. The book is about little boy Ursli's adventure to find a big cowbell in his family's chalet in the Alps for the spring procession. I like the illustrations in the book a lot, especially the scene where Ursli is wearing the big bell like a cross-body bag. I looked into the bell-making process, and it seems not very different from a bag-making process. Applying felt fabric instead of the metal sheet and using rivet instead of welding, but keeping the pattern design of traditional cowbell. For the handle strap, I add some decorative detail similar to the embroidery fringe strap of the cowbell. This Swiss cowbell-inspired felt basket will be a good souvenir for travelers because it is light and not fragile. It can be used as a small storage for daily life with little hint of Switzerland.
Fringe Socks
Decoration and Swissness seem to have a gap between each other, but many of the Swiss traditional items have decorative pleasure in them. I found the charm in the decorative detail on the leather strap made out of a fringe for Swiss cowbells. Fringe Socks are just simple socks but with a unique fringe loop on the backside. I wish people who wear the socks feel like they are walking in the Alps.
YESUL JANG 🇰🇷
Yesul Jang is an industrial designer born in Seoul, South Korea. Her works are focused on designing objects simple, practical, and joyful with inspirations from daily experience. She has a master’s degree in Product Design from ECAL (Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne), Switzerland and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Hong-Ik University, South Korea. Yesul worked as a brand experience designer at CHEIL WORLDWIDE and as a bag designer at a Korean fashion accessories brand RAWROW, designing soft goods and VMD materials considering the effects on the environment and sustainability. Currently, she runs her design studio OilKIN working on B2B product design and self-motivated projects. Also, she is teaching at Korea National University of Arts and Hanyang University.
Round (동그란 마음)
‘Round’ is inspired by the full moon. People make wishes while watching the bright full moon. People also make wishes on Christmas. I imagined having a small full moon at home on Christmas. It encourages people to say tiny wishes when they return home and light a candle. After voicing their hopes, They feel a sense of freedom. And they gather the energy to pursue those wishes.
SEUNGMOK LEE 🇰🇷
Product designer. Interested in the relationship between human beings and objects. Graduate ECAL MAS-DLC(Design for Luxury and Craftsmanship), Switzerland in 2022 Collaboration experiences with Nestlé, La Prairie, Samsung Elec,. Etc.
Emille Bell
The Bell of King Seongdeok also known as Emille Bell, dates back to 771 A.D. and is connected to the myth of the child who was sacrificed for the bell. The casting of the ancient bronze bell with a beautiful sound was an incredibly challenging task and many generations failed. Our object draws inspiration of the myth with the intention to create an object that doesn’t directly display the bell itself but rather represents the void left by its absence. The inverted space of the bell is made accessible –visually and tactically– and serves as a tribute to the child.
Laurin Schaffner &
Kosha Ahmadi🇨🇭
(DIASPORA DREAMS)
Diaspora Dreams is an architecture and design studio based in Oslo and Zurich, established in 2023 with the aim to design thoroughly and thoughtfully across cultures. While cities, buildings, furnitures and objects tend to look more and more the same, it is the specificity in things that interests us rather than the generic.
Patchwork Tray
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Korean and Swiss relationships, we created this piece as a merge of Korean’s singular textile patchworks with Swiss’ woodworking heritage. Patchwork is a wooden tray inspired by the traditional Korean Bojagi. These wooden slats, made exclusively of Swiss wood, are graphically arranged to shape the tray referencing textile off-cuts patchwork. Switzerland is a country that contains a variety of wood species, mainly due to its hilly landscape and the robustness that growing at altitude can generate.
Victor Moynier &
Amandine Gini🇨🇭
Amandine Gini & Victor Moynier are Swiss based designers, engaged in the creation of products, spaces and art direction in partnership with predominantly Swiss clientele. With a pluridisciplinary approach, they manage projects of global vision, ranging from art direction to exhibition design, creating dialogues between existing design tools and innovative narratives. Clients and collaborations include Nespresso, Swiss-Ski, ImageVevey, NOV Gallery, Swiss Confederation, ECAL, EPFL, FRAME, & MIT self-assembly LAB.Together they received awards & grants from the London Design Museum, the CES Innovation, the BCV and the Ikea Foundation Switzerland. Their work has been exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Vitra Schaudepot, the Milan furniture fair, and supported by the Ikea Foundation and ProHelvetia.
handfelted slipper
The Swiss-made hand-felted slippers, crafted from Swiss wool, draw inspiration from the captivating color play of goji stones. The design blends the cozy comfort of traditional “Hüttenfinken” with the distinctive shape of padded Korean socks.
Flavia Brändle &
Eva-Maria Beer🇨🇭
Flavia Brändle After graduating from Academy of Art and Design in Basel in 2015 Flavia gained experience as an industrial designer at Barber Osgerby in London. The meticulous work, forward thinking concepts and attention to detail highly influenced her way of working. In 2019 she decided to get an insight into a new environment and business and started a position in the On design team in Zurich. The fast growing and strong brand building environment was an interesting addition to previous gained experience at Barber Osgerby. In January 2022 she started her own practice which focuses on collaborative projects between tradition and innovation.
Eva-Maria Beer During her bachelor studies in Integrated Product Design at the University of Applied Sciences Coburg (Germany), Eva-Maria joined the teams of lucidipevere design studio in Italy and BarberOsgerbydesign studio in London. Smart solutions, aesthetics, and simple design are what she is passionate about. In 2018, she graduated from the Master program in Product Design at ECAL Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne, Switzerland. Currently, she is working as a lead designer in color material for Swiss sport brand On in Zürich.
BELLE
Belle is a ceramic ornament inspired by the Swiss cowbell recreating a sound from the Alps.
Youjung Jeong & Jakob Reuter 🇰🇷
(YJJJJR)
YJJJJR is a design studio led by two creators passionate about crafting and structural material interpretation.
Metal ruler capturing Swiss landscape
The metal ruler inspired by the contours of Swiss mountains, ranges, and lakes. Its design captures the freeform shapes of nature, making it enjoyable to transfer these forms onto paper as drawing cards or for various other applications.
Yeyeon Park 🇰🇷
(MAEGAE)
Yeyeon Park began with metal craft and studied product design at ECAL (École cantonale d'art de Lausanne) in Switzerland. She built her industrial design career at a design studio in Korea. Subsequently, through the “Maegae” brand, she has been striving to bring the joy of integrating art and design into people’s daily lives.
Greetings from Korea
“Greetings from Korea” is a collection of 5 postcards representing different locations across South Korea. It is an elegant twist on the typical, sometimes tacky destination postcard. Korean landscapes are met with the phrase “Greetings from ...” in German, French, Italian and English, symbolising the crossroads of two cultures.
Nina Treichler🇨🇭
Born on 28th September 1998, Nina Treichler is a Swiss-Iranian art director, graphic designer and writer. Graduated with a Bachelors in Visual Communication at ECAL, her practice questions poetry and sensitivity within graphic design by combining it with other media such as photography and writing, with an interest for subjects such as transience, identity, melancholy and liminality.
Wisteria
Inspired by the natural shapes of the wisteria leaves, this artwork aims to provide an elegant yet practical object.
Kevin Dizami🇨🇭
(KDZI)
Kevin Dizami is a Swiss industrial designer of Hispanic-Congolese origin, graduated from ECAL / Cantonal School of Lausanne.He has now established his studio in Zurich where he develops his own practice and brings a fresh perspective to the objects and materials that surround us. Whether designing for clients or working on personal projects, his work is transparent, instinctive, and radical.
Metamorfosis de Julio
Metamorfosis de Julio identifies the section of traditional Korean chopsticks as an active surface, altering their geometry to enhance their functionality. A horizontal segment progresses into a vertical one: the initial portion of the chopsticks, resting on our hands, remains horizontal whereas the end section is vertical, maximizing the surface to hold aliments. A subtle variation to highlight the objectual quality of these iconic elements. A line, an extrusion in a movement of continuity.
Milagros Rodriguez🇨🇭
Milagros Rodríguez is a Peruvian architect and designer based in Basel, Switzerland. Trained in architecture, Latin American art, and Design for Luxury and Craftsmanship, she produces objects, architecture, and cultural content.
