Design Miami Seoul Bets Big on South Korea’s Creative Momentum

For the past few years, Design Miami has tested new markets and fair formats in cities with strong collector bases such as Los Angeles, Aspen, and Paris. Last year, the collectible design platform landed in Seoul for the first time with an intimate showcase under its In Situ initiative, which spotlights regional creative traditions within a global framework. The South Korean capital proved fertile ground for the concept: “Korean culture—spanning music, food, art, design, and craft—is thriving as a global trendsetter,” curator Hyeyoung Cho, chairperson of the Korea Association of Art & Design, said at the time. Across more than 170 works, the show traced a vivid line from centuries-old Korean craft techniques to contemporary material experimentation, revealing a flourishing creative culture in lively conversation with its past.  

Design Miami’s second Seoul edition officially opens September 1 at Design Lab 1F inside the sinuous Zaha Hadid–designed Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), where it runs through September 6. Developed in partnership with the Seoul Design Foundation and the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the expanded outing marks the second year of In Situ and the debut of the fair’s Gallery Program, which brings six international dealers into conversation with a broad roster of regional talents. This year’s theme, titled Resonance, considers how objects carry knowledge and emotions across generations and geographies. Hyeyoung Cho returns as curatorial director, framing the fair as a two-way exchange between Korean creative practice and an international network of galleries and collectors.

The timing coincides with Frieze Seoul, which runs September 2 through 5 and turns the city into a bustling nexus for the international art community. “Our first Seoul edition exceeded every expectation, and we’ve returned with real momentum,” says Jen Roberts, CEO of Design Miami. “This year’s curatorial theme reflects the depth of connection we’ve seen take root here across our galleries, partners, and In Situ program.”  

That dialogue between heritage and experimentation pulses through some of the fair’s strongest works—and reveals how a rising generation of makers draws freely from Korea’s architectural and craft heritage to recast familiar materials and motifs through a contemporary lens. Jungmo Kwon reimagines the traditional hanok window as a lighting sculpture that could double as a room divider, arranging translucent hanji—traditional Korean paper made from mulberry bark—in geometric panels across a wooden grid. Hwan Tae Kim distills the distinctive ornament that crowns a hanok roof into the slender, gently curving silhouette of his sapele Chimi Chair. Byungsub Kim references another centuries-old Korean tradition for a strikingly architectural chair, its severe red pine framework inset with gleaming najeon chilgi panels depicting an exuberant profusion of birds and flowers in mother-of-pearl lacquer.  

The inaugural Gallery Program broadens that conversation beyond Korea, with six international exhibitors bringing an eclectic mix of contemporary collectible works. Among the highlights at Barcelona stalwart Side Gallery are Gyuhan Lee’s luminous paper lanterns, which depict familiar storefront graphics and compress the visual cacophony of a Seoul street corner into glowing sculptural beacons. Charles Burnand Gallery takes a more elemental approach with a group presentation that explores how objects reverberate beyond their physical presence. Jan Waterston’s craggy sculptures stand out, their dark striated bronze surface evoking something unearthed from deep underground. In a similar vein, artist Diego Villarreal Vagujhelyi casts bronze into wonderfully unruly furnishings marked by gnarled legs and skeletal backs. Alex Turco mines a similarly geological register with a rough-hewn cocktail table topped with a slab of acid-etched travertine marble that recalls the weathered stone of an ancient monument.   

The Seoul edition energetically kicks off Design Miami’s annual circuit, which continues in Paris in October before returning to Miami Beach in December. For now, however, Seoul has the spotlight. “Seoul is emerging as a city that connects new design trends, markets, and discourse,” says Kang Heui Cha, CEO of Seoul Design Foundation. “DDP and Seoul are becoming a global hub for collectible design, attracting designers, galleries, and collectors from around the world.”