If I were to describe Seoul
in my own words
I’d say it’s a city where ten million people live
but only five million jobs exist.
Urban manufacturing used to be active in London
but today most of it has disappeared from the city.
A large part of fashion manufacturing
has moved to the outskirts or just disappeared.
But Changsin-dong still remains active as a producing area
right in the middle of the city.
So the potential of the area is pretty good.
Project Seoul Apparel is a project and exhibition
a collaboration between six people
working in the fields of architecture,
fashion design, film and urban research.
One of my roles on the project was to collect information about the area
and share this information with my colleagues.
The results of my work are here.
I started this work thirty years ago
at a time in which Korea
was achieving a high level of economic growth.
This required a lot of manpower.
Learning these techniques was considered a means of living
for those couldn’t go to school.
I created a series of maps
visualising how manufacturing works
and is distributed inside Seoul.
This work is done in collaboration with a designer
and it shows how any designer can do business
using the resources of the city.
The work shows the whole manufacturing process
from fabric markets to factories
from factories to Dongdaemun market.
I was born in the Gangwondo Province and came to Seoul
after graduating from high school.
Everything looked so good,
so new for me at that time.
Yeomcheon shoe street is right next to the Seoul station.
This street was formed right after independence from Japan
and initially it focused on fixing the shoes
of the American soldiers who stayed in Korea.
Shoe Street has all of the different components of what you require to make a shoe.
So there’s the designers there,
there’s the makers there in their factories,
there’s also shops that you can buy different kinds of leather,
you can buy details for the stiletto heels
and things like that.
NEON x Shoe Street is a collaboration between ten design influencers from every corner of the globe
with four local shoemakers.
And what we want to do is we want to use this project
as a mechanism to tell this story of the tradition of making
but also the idea that with a handmade pair of shoes
you can essentially generate a closer bond
between the wearer and the object.
So we’re saying that this is an alternative solution
to fast fashion and mass production.
I feel so proud
when people walking by the shop
look inside through the windows
and tell me that the shoes look fantastic.
Sometimes I even give them a pair for free.
I feel like that in the consumer there’s a hunger for objects that have a story to them
and feel more personal.
So I think if it can kind of tap into that hunger,
then the handmade shoe market can have a strong future.
I feel a bit awkward without the score.
Sometimes I dream about shoes.
I've dreamt of new shoe designs
but never used these designs
because I’m not sure if they would sell well or not.
We have a gift for you from Thailand, from her to you.
The industry is often considered
old and insignificant.
But this industry can benefit from being well connected
with design and the creative arts.
This point, where manufacturing and design meet
is too often ignored
by those analysing the data, people like me.
Of course data is important when we want to make
an objective description of a city
but to really understand an area like this
it’s more important to walk the streets,
talk with the locals,
get to know the network here.
After all my research, this is what I realised.