ddp design fair

Since last July, the Young Designer Job Fair was held as part of the 2021 DDP Design Fair, offering tips and advice for creating a portfolio and practical information for prospective design college graduates, job seekers and prospective entrepreneurs. On August 23, about 50 young designers who had attended three mentoring sessions were able to experience a job interview under all the same conditions as a real interview through an in-person mock interview mostly focused on their portfolio. We met four young designers who participated in a mock interview on that day and heard their thoughts about the mentoring and training program so far. Hyeeun Jang (Anyang University, Dept. of Digital Media Design, Senior)After graduating from visual media high school, I chose digital media design as my major in university since I wanted to study more about this field. Besides digital media design, I started to get more interested in visual design, brand design and editorial design, so I'm thinking about combining video work and UI/UX design for my portfolio while I'm working on branding these days. It’s a time-consuming job. Even though the quality is great, it feels too commercial. I thought being commercial would be seen as an advantage but I was surprised when the mentors recommended that I should add works that tend to be a little more experimental, something more of a college student vibe in the portfolio. They wanted something that was not commercial and a little more creative. I have removed such works from my portfolio, but I think I need to put some of the works back in my portfolio. Since I had a group interview today, I was able to listen and compare what other candidates said during the interview so I learned a lot, and it was a good reality check for me. We had five candidates in the group interview. All candidates took turns to present their portfolio and got feedback about their portfolio from the interviewers. It is a rare chance to see other people's portfolios, right? So it was a great opportunity for me to look at other candidates’ portfolios, and the mentors provided realistic feedback about my portfolio by comparing it with other candidates’ portfolios. It was a valuable experience. It was something I cannot experience anywhere else.Yejin Yook (Kookmin University Graduate School, Dept. of Communication Design)I applied for this program since I was feeling worried about getting a job and started to think about how I can improve my current portfolio and take it to the next level. What I liked the most was that I was motivated by the portfolios of other participants and it made me look back on myself seeing my position in the job market. What was most memorable to me was that one the mentors shared her materials with the participants so that they could study on their own even after the mentoring program was officially over. I want to become a designer who has pride and affection for what I do, and I hope I can have a great ability and taste to find good values and make them my own.Inha Hwang & Eunbyul Jeong (Sangmyung University, Dept. of Interior Design, Senior)Inha Hwang : Managers of each company’s design department came as mentors to review our portfolios and give feedback for improvements. I made a portfolio, showed it to them and also showed the revised version to them. After going through this process three times, I attended an in-person mock interview today. It was conducted like an actual interview, and the interviewers were from various companies. All the interviewees presented their portfolio and introduced themselves, and the interviewers offered feedback on what could be improved and asked questions to each one of us. Each interviewer pointed out different things and gave the details on what I could improve on. The mentors also shared real world experience in their field.Eunbyul Jeong : At school, there are not enough opportunities to hear about what kind of work designers actually do or the real world of the industry so I had a great experience participating in this job fair. I also received a lot of help so I really want to recommend this program to someone who is a year or two years below me at school. I am majoring in interior design so Inha and I both got similar advice from the mentors. They told me to be confident about marketing myself as a designer. It was a rare opportunity for me and was incredibly helpful to get professional feedback on the direction of my career.Photo 1. Mentee Hyeeun JangPhoto 2. Mentee Yejin YookPhoto 3. (Left) Mentee Eunbyul Jeong (Right) Inha Hwang

Studio PAL and Studio Sons Ceramic are presenting three items including a tray and an incense holder with a motif of ocean at the 2021 DDP Design Fair. The concept of this collaboration was suggested by Studio PAL, and Studio Sons Ceramic CEO Yonggwan Son responded to the ideas presented by the designers to create a product that embodies the sentiments of the designers and the maker at the same time. Studio Sons Ceramic respected the original design as much as possible from the moment Studio PAL first conceived the idea and offered his opinion on what more could be done in order to translate the design into ceramic. Studio PAL collaborated with Studio Sons Ceramic for the first time based on the feedback it received from Studio Sons Ceramic but Studio PAL said the process was really fun and exciting. Studio Sons Ceramic tried to follow Studio PAL’s new perspective by placing the side tray on top of the tray and fitting incense holders into each tray like modules. The pieces of the product can be used separately or in combination. It is a décor item that can be used as an incense holder that releases fragrant smoke or as an object that decorates your space.

This collaborative product is aimed at single-person households, and its concept is to combine furniture with lighting that can be used in various ways. In general, lighting is placed on top of furniture. Instead, they created a piece of furniture that also functions as lighting to avoid all the hassle in a small space. Designer Hyunjeong Kim was the one who reached out to Kolamp for this collaboration but Kolamp CEO Soohyun Park was surprised when the designer contacted her because she started thinking about working with Hyunjeong Kim after seeing her portfolio, which was very impressive. When they had their first meeting after they were paired as team, the two burst into laughter. They put their notebooks on the table, and they turned out to be the exact same brand and color. Even the color of their pens was the same. They started to think they were meant to be a team. They liked each other from the time they first saw each other. Designer Hyunjeong Kim and CEO Soohyun Park agree that the finished product, which is both practical and designed with style, turned out pretty well. The two design and make products inspired by their daily lives. Designer Hyunjeong Kim has extensive experience in furniture design but this was her first time making lighting. She learned a lot through this opportunity and hopes to continue working in the lighting field as well. CEO Soohyun Park said that Kolamp is a home lighting brand with a long history but it has been collaborating with artists in various fields since this year began. She said that she got a lot of inspiration especially from the designers she had met at the DDP Design Fair and would like to continue unveiling interesting pieces of work to the public from the artist's point of view.

Lighting Curator Mee Jeong : We don’t have a lot of teams in the Lighting category. Although we have a small number of teams, we encouraged several teams to work on collaborations, and they are working really hard right now. We’ve already had meetings for the curation process for the past two weeks. The quality level varies from team to team, however, every team is doing its best so we are expected to achieve great results. Companies which participated last year are working even harder. Those who are attending for the first time this year are in a bit of a bind but they are following the curation guidelines without difficulty. Professor Jihoon Ha : In fact, our situation is similar to the Lighting category. There aren't many designers participating this year but I talked with CEO Donghoon Sohn about increasing the scale of the project by pairing several designers with one company. For recycling, we are in contact with Evergreen, a face mask manufacturer, as well as Innisfree and Amore Pacific. iCOOP KOREA also decided to proceed with many designers and is planning to get the machines that were used from the project called “Precious Plastic” and make recycled products on the spot. We have not decided to how to use padded jackets but we might have a chance to work with the Dongdaemun Sewing Association. The results of recycling will turn out to be interesting if we get connected with a company as well.CEO Kyungha Han : There are a lot of designers and makers participating in the Lifestyle and Living category so it is quite difficult to expect the same quality level from all companies. Everyone is working hard, and the official mentoring ended last week. Mentoring helped the participants head in the right direction little by little, and I believe we would be able to raise the quality to a certain level before the deadline.CEO Donghoon Sohn : We have a lot of people participating in the Lifestyle and Living category so it looks like barriers to entry are very low on the surface. However, the smaller the product size gets, the more likely people are going to notice the subtle difference in the details and quality. That’s why many teams are most sensitive about the schedule now. However, we are trying to figure out what kind of content the participants are able to show and how to organize and showcase the exhibition. Now that the official mentoring is over, we are expecting to see results with high quality.Professor Kanghyun Lee : We received the list of collaborative products two days ago and reviewed which products would be unveiled. There are a lot of products in the Lifestyle and Living category so we are spending a lot of time thinking about how to display them in the exhibition. For the first time, we now have spaces that show different concepts of the companies so we are constantly talking about the direction together during meetings with the companies and styling the spaces. Thanks to the cooperation of the companies, the spaces are expected to reveal new aspects of the companies. We also have received most of the new designs for the theme hall. We are currently considering which space will look best and focusing our efforts on what to include in the content. If the elements of the content go well together, we will the find the right space for each content. We will also encourage participation from the audience by featuring expansive outdoor displays, just as Professor Jihoon Ha mentioned. We are still talking about collaboration because the story of its creation is more important than the work itself.Professor Jeongho Park : As part of our promotional and marketing efforts, I wrote a feature article about the fair in the column I write for the Electronic Times. In that column, I described the concept of this year’s DDP Design Fair and mentioned that the collaboration between designers and makers will be a great opportunity to generate new business opportunities especially for makers who are suffering severe impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. I am going to write my next column for the Hankook Ilbo. I will provide full details about the fair since the column will be an in-depth and lengthy article. I would like to introduce the participating companies and institutions and write about what we have done so far to build upon the achievements of other regions, especially the Nordic countries. Lastly, the PR and marketing agency asked me to write articles for the Kyunghyang Shinmun and the Electronic Times, and I agreed to do it. As digital promotional efforts are becoming more important in the COVID-19 era, I also asked YouTube content creators to mention about the fair. I would like to promote the fair in some way through YouTube channels including Shuka which has 1.5 million YouTube subscribers and my own channel called 3 percent TV which has 1.5 million YouTube subscribers as well. For sales, we talked to the foundation not long ago about working with the “Innobiz Association” to create opportunities that can lead to increased revenue. All members of Innobiz are companies with a revenue more than 15 billion won. I have been talking with the chairman of the Innobiz Association by sending an official request to discuss what the Innobiz Association can support such as encouraging middle market enterprises or large companies to buy and resell the products of makers or sell such products through the company’s website.Professor Nayoung Kim : We have already had three mentoring sessions for students who are participating in the fair. Based on this opportunity, various mentors with extensive experience could identify each student’s potentials and abilities, and students are also working on their career goals step by step. On August 23, mentoring program participants will have mock interviews with the CEOs of companies they would like to work for. The mock interview seems to be the final stage for students to put the final touches on their resume and portfolio. I think the next stage of the process, starting from September, will be matching students with companies that can lead to real job opportunities. Students have struggled to find a clear career path before joining this program so we would like to unleash their potentials, open up new possibilities and support them to eventually get a job or start a business throughout this program. 

One of the highlights of this year's DDP Fair is “With light, a companion that brings joy to your life with a small ray of light”. As living design is gaining popularity nowadays, it was inspired by the idea that lighting is not just a simple function or an accessory, but also a special element that changes the space and brings joy to your life. This year's collaboration is a new challenge that opens up possibilities beyond boundaries. It is because we strive to create a new product based on a lot of discussions and ideation sessions beyond each other's areas of expertise. Also, the theme of this year’s fair is “Wonderful Life”. The Lighting category wants to interpret this theme with “my own recipe”. It can be seen as a process of finding my own recipe of my life. Taking great joy from the simple things in life means that the little pleasures can actually transform your life. We wish “companion lighting” becomes as an item that transforms a space even with a small amount of light and creates a space that is loved by users. I hope all the designers and makers participating this year have fun, enjoy collaborating with each other and create the lighting we would all like to have.

Momentum Studio- The DDP Design Fair’s Lifestyle and Living category will showcase upcycled products. We are making slippers with discarded vinyl flooring. We reuse waste materials, particularly vinyl flooring, from the remodeling project of Guerrillaz’s co-living house. Guerrillaz has unveiled various upcycled products, and this time, we, Momentum, are collaborating with Guerrillaz to make slippers. We tried to let the pattern of vinyl flooring such as the grain of wood stand out tastefully and took a sentimental approach to make people feel the nostalgia of old vinyl flooring. Even if it is a modern space, I wanted to keep the feeling of walking on a retro-feeling floor. Even though people are staying at a modern space, we wanted them to have a feeling of walking on retro style vinyl flooring.Guerrillaz- Guerillaz is a company that runs a co-living house based in Namyeong-dong, Yongsan-gu. We design various things with waste materials from remodeling projects of obsolete accommodations. We are preparing various product ranges such as décor items and artworks made out of discarded vinyl flooring, gunnysacks and other stuff. If a certain recycled material could be transformed into a popular design, we would be able create a whole new trend, like Freitag which make items from recycled truck tarps.

Time will tell how valuable the collaboration between designers and makers will be. For designers, it may leave something to be desired since they offer their designs at no cost. However, if you think this opportunity is meaningful in terms of your experience and career as a designer, you will encounter new opportunities. In fact, it is very encouraging to see more and more designers participating in the DDP Design Fair. Makers often think that designers have answers to everything but in reality, that is not the case. On the other hand, designers find themselves dissatisfied with some parts during the process of turning their designs into actual products so they are desperate to meet good makers, however, that does not happen to everyone. Each side needs to take a step back to understand each other. Actually, many companies founded by designers participated as makers during the DDP Design Fair. A growing consensus towards the importance of design will also lead to more participation of companies and quality outcomes. We need to focus on the process of accumulation. Although the event is held under the name of “Design Fair”, the process of preparing the exhibition means much more to us than the exhibition itself. Each of us should do our part to establish a better process.

Sara Kim of Diagonal Thoughts and Wongyo Lee of Emokwon decided to combine their efforts. They are working on developing products from design sketches to mock-ups based on the concept of furniture both for humans and their companion animals. Diagonal Thoughts is an architecture firm that explores the properties of various materials while Emokwon mainly produces solid wood furniture so wood will be their first choice of material, and felt is one of the new materials they are considering to use due to its soft texture companion animals would like. The properties of each material go well together, however, they are focusing their efforts more on finding something users and their companion animals both like. Diagonal Thoughts and Emokwon both have clear ideas about the properties but they constantly share their views as a daily routine. Since the ideas of Diagonal Thoughts start from the basic properties of materials and Emokwon focuses more on the process of turning raw materials into a finished product, they keep talking about their differences. During that process, they start to blend in with each other to develop a product together.