ddp design fair

S2VICTOR x TAMKENS2VICTORA Joyful ProcessWe dream of happiness and hope to find happiness. The design process with TAMKEN was really fun. We are still thinking about our future, whether to work on clients’ projects or live as an artist to tell our own story. Even though the collaboration with TAMKEN — especially the process of creating the mock up — was intense, we’ve learn a lot.xTAMKENTAKE MAKE ENJOYTAMKEN will proceed with its own design along with various exhibitions, multi-brand stores and market research to develop design furniture differentiated from others, and is making efforts to showcase distinct products through collaborations like the DDP Design Fair. We strive to create products that are differentiated from existing industrial products with a story expressed in morphological language.Isy Design Studio x PlantreeIsy Design StudioA Process of Finding Novelty through Design ThinkingWe dream of designing lives, everyday lives and ourselves in a world where design is not special but a part of our daily lives, and design thinking becomes our daily routine. These days, we realize the importance of things we took for granted. The small gratitude for breathing, living and romping around freely despite the risks associated with disease and pollution makes our lives more precious and valuable. We took one step at a time. We like the fresh feeling of new proportions, forms designed to express the functions and the new functions supported by the technology. Our products start to resemble us before we know it. We yearn and crave for new designs, and we want to go on a journey to find novelty.xPlantreeFurniture with Its Own Identity Loved by Many PeopleWhile I was studying design, I learned how to make furniture by chance. I was fascinated by furniture making because I could turn my idea into a piece of furniture, which led me to start a business right after graduation. There are numerous furniture brands in Korea, but it is very rare to find brands with their own personality. Even though the reality is harsh, I hope to create and nurture a brand with my own identity and make beautiful furniture more accessible to more customers at a reasonable price, rather than focusing on creating unique artworks. Currently, I am making a lot of furniture myself but when we scale up our business, I would like to have a well-organized production system and focus on developing new products or conducting research on furniture.Doyoung Choi x LunicoDoyoung ChoiCrossing Boundaries between Industry and CraftI am working as a designer at Workshop H, which not only specializes in artistic projects but also design consulting and collaboration with companies in various fields. I am also working on my personal projects by designing and making furniture myself. I want to keep creating artworks that embody practical and modest beauty based on a life of constantly making valuable and beautiful objects and a sincere attitude toward life, without lies or exaggeration, by crossing boundaries between designer and artist; and industry and craft.Seona Im x SolenoSeona ImA Time for Discovering the Values of Everyday LifeI’m trying to take my own path slowly but steadily. I also want have a positive influence on others.To have a positive influence on others, I need to be a well-rounded, relaxed and insightful person. These days, I am spending time rediscovering the value of my daily life in a situation where things I took for granted are no longer guaranteed. Due to the constraints on outdoor activities, I have come to realize the value of taking care of myself as I tried to focus on myself by perceiving time, space, smell and sound in a totally different way, and I will continue to seek ways of treating myself better. I have always liked paper, and I love the moment when colors, letters and shapes meet paper. I have always wanted learn and study more and keep telling stories on paper. I am currently working as an educator, researcher and graphic designer.xSolenoAudience Seats with a Distinct DesignWe are a company that develops, manufactures and installs audience seats in concert halls, auditoriums and multiplex cinemas, and the unique design of audience seats is considered as one of our core competencies. Therefore, we develop the design of audience seats with a competitive edge in collaboration with local and global furniture designers rather than relying on designs developed by in-house staff. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the world earlier this year, we have witnessed a significant decrease in sales resulting from irregular operations and economic losses of movie theaters and concert halls, which are our target market.However, we are launching and marketing the smart seating system (seat control system + indoor air quality management system) we have been developing for several years earlier than the schedule to overcome the current situation for survival and prepare for the post-COVID era. In addition, we are targeting domestic and foreign markets by developing a design for a new audience seat called Soleno Flex with a feature for enhanced privacy in the audience space.

In 2015, makers and designers came together and made their first attempt to transform and bring luster to Euljiro — an underdeveloped and marginalized area with unlimited potentials — with the name of “Euljiro Lightway”. The event was the result of the collaboration between Euljiro lighting stores, young residential artists, Jung-gu Office, the Seoul Design Foundation and college students majoring in lighting design and aimed to revitalize Euljiro, which now serves as a distribution channel of cheap imports, as the center of the lighting industry where production, sales, purchase and consumption take place at the same time. In 2017, <By Euljiro>, a part of “Euljiro Lightway” project, was hosted by the DDP to discover the possibilities in developing and revitalizing the ecosystem of Euljiro’s lighting manufacturing sector, which mostly relied on the distribution of lighting. In 2018, merchants based in Euljiro and Dongdaemun and designers worked together to open the “Dongdaemun DDP Design Market”.Based on the four years of collaboration, the DDP Design Fair was held in 2019 to revitalize the manufacturing sectors besides the lighting industry and prioritize the selection of industry sectors with great potentials to display products in collaboration with designers by identifying Euljiro’s ecosystem structure consisted of the six major manufacturing sectors. Based on the previous achievements, the 2020 DDP Design Fair expanded its scale and scope by attracting other manufacturing sectors and encouraging participation of makers in various fields. Taking today’s high youth unemployment rate and low survival rate of youth entrepreneurship into consideration, the fair discovered competitive young entrepreneurs and makers to ensure their sustainable growth by offering full support for design, branding, marketing and ways to enter the market.

During the 2020 DDP Design Fair, most of the attention went to the designers and makers.As they relied on each other, they sometimes encouraged each other and sometimes worked together to achieve their shared goal.We would like to share some dynamic and honest feedback about the collaborations of the 2020 DDP Design Fair from designers and makers.Tarzan WoodIt was interesting to see the materials I usually use being applied in different ways and taking shape from a designer’s point of view.×Studio Heesoo KimI’ve learned how to think and express my values when I collaborate or do business with others.Wood WarehouseThe opportunity of seeing a designer’s work process and the experience of working with a designer will be very helpful when I do other projects in the future.×SusveneerDuring the collaboration process, I felt that I still have a long way to go.Never think that designers should be the ones offering ideas and makers should be the ones manufacturing the product.WoodistIt was great to have an opportunity to listen to ideas different from my own, work in a style that is completely different from my previous works and create a totally different design.×Woochul ShinWhen I approached this collaboration as a product rather than a work or artwork, I could actually feel what difference could be made in the design.TamkenIt was a great opportunity to combine a variety of opinions and novel ideas of professional designers in different fields.×Studio Jeongho KoInstead of working alone, I’ve learned how to work with others.LunicoWe need to start a public discussion and dialogue to pursue the public interest and repeat the process of planning, practice and result to find the middle ground between our strengths and weaknesses.×Joonghan LeeWhat we see now is quite different in many ways from the design scene three or four years ago when we first entered this ecosystem.Plan TreeFor small makers, there are not many opportunities to work with professional designers, so it was special to be part of this new experience.×Isy Design StudioIf you meet a good client and a good manufacturer, a good designer must have a good partner who can turn ideas into reality.Metal LibraryIt felt great to do my best to create a better product and get new motivations by having conversations with designers and trying not to lose my edge.×Frnkl Design StudioThe greatest achievement of this fair is that I’ve met a partner who understands me, a company I want to continue to work with in the future.

Amidst the pandemic era which started after the outbreak of COVID-19, 2020 has been a year when we have focused more on objects around us and appreciated the value of such objects.Last year’s 2020 DDP Design Fair was an art venue that experimented with creative possibilities based on collaboration beyond material value. Interior products that have a stronger presence in an era when everything is uncertain are evolving into art that brings all fields together, puts our heads together, goes back to nature, seeks a valuable life, revives tradition in a contemporary way and represents a group that acts separately but also together.1. Maker One × Hyupsung Precision Co.Stand LampIt is a product that applied the tool of engineering based on the designer’s specialty and facilitated constant interaction between objects and humans through the element of “movement”.2. Studio RA × Daewoo DyeingBlock Series 2020 VasesIt is a series of objects and vases with a combination of red and black.3. Makemake × Hwangduck EngineeringWeight LightIt is a product that not only takes into account the external beauty but also a deep insight into the essence of the product, understanding of users and their environment, the knowledge of materials and product process and a set of concerns and responsibility around efficiency.4. Sunmin Park × Grigo Glass StudioRe: Bottle- Spinning SeriesWe used a cold working technique to reprocess glass and attached different kinds of glass together to complete the product.5. Kang Youngmin × AscoAFF ChairIt is a chair made out of recycled waste from a factory.6. Doyoung Choi x LunicoOld Moon ChairIt is a rocking chair with steel legs using bending technology to emphasize the image of its three-dimensional backrest manufactured by Lunico’s curve shaping technology.