ddp design fair

Please tell us about the brand.

Welle is a German word meaning waveform, which refers to “the flow of tides and waves”. Our lives are like the ups and downs of waves. Welle started with a desire to maximize the total amount of happiness customers enjoy through products. For this reason, we established a company called “Welle”, which specializes in lifestyle speakers and considers audio as an emotional object.

How did the brand start?

The brand started from the personal memories and reflections of CEO Choi Jongmin. He said when he was 8, he plugged into a pair of chopsticks into an outlet to put on some music. Instead, it caused a burn on his hand. As such incident suggests, it can be said that CEO Choi, who has been an audio buff since he was a child, grew up with all kinds of audio products such as turntables, radios and digital devices around him, taking apart his father's stereo. These passions led him to decide to major in acoustics in college, get a job at a global audio company and eventually make his own speakers. This is the story of the origin of the brand created by an audiophile with over 35 years of experience.

We’ve heard that Welle had a blast with crowdfunding.

Welle unveiled its self-developed furniture-style speaker, which turned out to be a blast, through crowdfunding platforms not only in Korea, but also in Japan, Taiwan and the United States. Its annual sales growth rate has exceeded 100%, and it has been releasing a new generation of speakers through crowdfunding every year since 2017. For this reason, it is getting loads of attention from early adopters and people in the audio industry. Based on its experience, Welle is utilizing crowdfunding as part of its marketing strategy. The advantage is that Welle can directly introduce its products to consumers and industry officials ahead of others. Currently, employees who are fluent in Japanese, English and Chinese are directly selling products on crowdfunding websites in various countries. Besides crowdfunding, Welle products are available at E-mart stores, Costco stores, Shinsegae department stores and Apple stores in Korea, and Welle is seeking to expand its business by selling its products at large online and offline stores, such as Japan's Yodobashi Camera, Tsutaya and Amazon.

What makes this product so popular, especially among females?

Our plan was to make a product that does not look like a speaker at first glance. We thought of a design that goes well with the space and makes the speaker stand out, moving away from a black speaker with a boxy and clunky shape, and wanted to highlight its value as an interior object. This could be possible since Welle truly understands the needs of consumers who first thinks, “would this go well with my home décor?” before purchasing a home appliance such as a speaker. To keep up with the trend, we offered a furniture-style speaker tailored specifically for the Asian market at a reasonable price. In addition, Welle's Table Speaker even captured the hearts of female customers, who had been indifferent to speaker products, after it was recommended through word of mouth as a “pretty speaker”. In most cases, the percentage of female customers who purchase speaker products is about 20 percent, however, one of the characteristics of Welle is that more than 60 percent of its customers are female.

Could you tell us about your latest product or a new product you are working on?

This year, starting with Lamp Speaker, an upgraded version of Table Speaker, and a power strip (PLUG 5), we are planning to release home appliances and design products, including a lighting piece with a USB hub and a USB input device with a formative design. Lamp Speaker is based on a design that maintains the concept of Table Speaker with a smaller mood light, which has been added for camping or outdoor activities. Plug 5 Power Strip is a product designed with the aim to  expand into the category of home appliances, instead of speakers. Up till now, power strips mostly had a long shape and only came in white. That’s why we came up with a round power strip lid that you can place anywhere, instead of hiding it away. It is available in 4 colors, so you choose a design that matches your home interior.

What are the concepts to look out for in Welle’s Launching Pavilion at the DDP Design Fair?

Welle's products are designed based on three concepts. First, multi-function. Each product is faithful to its fundamental performance and function based on multiple functions. Second, colorful style. Due to their nature, small home décor items including small home appliances represent the user’s style and accent the space. That's why it is important to use an accent color that can spruce up the space, instead of basic colors like black and white. Third, form of an object. No matter where the product is used and placed, sometimes it blends into the space as a stable form that goes well with the space, and sometimes it accents the space as the form of an object. You can elevate the style of your space with Welle's products. Of course, the functions and performance of our products have also been enhanced by incorporating state-of-the-art technologies into the latest trends through smart functions.

What are you most looking forward to through your participation in this DDP Design Fair?

Due to the nature of small home appliances, they require a distinctive style, color and design appeal to satisfy users. In line with this trend, I think the DDP Design Fair is the best venue to talk about our products, the results of Welle's hard work. I hope we can share the vision of Welle at this event, which brings together experts in various design fields and users of design products

How do you feel about the platform of the DDP Design Fair?

Nowadays, it is impossible to talk about design without talking about products or living. It means there is an inextricable connection between products, living and the space of product users, and user-oriented product selection is becoming more important than ever. I hope the DDP Design Fair, which is leading the design trends in terms of showcasing innovative designs, provides more business opportunities for makers by presenting user-centered designs and the latest trends of designs that are highly likely to be chosen by users.