Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.
I’m Sin Hwan Chu CEO of Garosu Mansion.
It’s an honor to meet you.
Briefly, I would like to start introducing of myself. I run design office called Garosu Mansion.
Some people might know my company or not.
Maybe some of you can think it is related to life information paper.
In addition, even quick service men give me a call in front of the office and ask me which room number they should go.
If you have any curiosity or any questions, feel free to search on the internet Garosu Mansion, you will find any information that you need.
I should stop right here about introducing my company.
Let me talk about today’s topic Futurama.
If you look at the easy way then it’s an easy story but if you look at the difficult way then it will be difficult.
If you see only an origin of a word etymology, ‘Future’ means from now on.
But panorama gives the feeling just like looking the all-around view from up high field that gives the feel of sketching the indoor.
And then as its definition, ‘Futurama’ is a device to predict future.
The subject of this TEDxYonsei is ‘Futurama’.
If you know your future and if I know my future, will we become happy?
We have to think about that.
Then today’s topic ‘future’, how should we think of the future?
What I personally think that the future means it starts from the present.
There are many numbers of steps that we need to walk.
We just walked the half way.
The steps that we just walked are past.
The moment where we are now, that is the present.
The steps that we will be on are future.
In other words, the future starts from the present.
You can ask back again that how your futurama faithful to your present is.
And what’s the meaning of being faithful to one’s present?
I am an interior designer.
I am designing a commerce publication, living publication, and everything what I can design. However, I don’t know what kinds of design will come out because it depends on my moment feelings, statements of my mind, emotions and sensibility.
Leaves can sway by external effects such as wind but the root does not shiver.
My motto is making convenient and comfortable design, but results are changeable on all such occasions.
To make it simple, I will put in as a root.
Every single day root grows.
It is like a plant root that absorbs the sun’s radiation and the quantity of moisture, and nutrient of soil.
The life of this plant root depends on how much it absorbs. People are just like it.
Maybe, I believe all designers, artists, and you are all same.
It’s one of Auguste Renoir’s works. It is called 'Le Moulin de la Galette'.
The painting depicts an open-air scene, at a bar dance garden on the Butte Montmartre.
Originally, Renoir is one of the impressionist artists.
The characteristic of this work is describing people’s face and clothes vividly using smooth touch.
Renoir changed his drawing style incredibly after his trip to Italy in 1881.
This drawing it one piece of Renoir, called 'Dance in a Country'
He was impressed by Raphael and other Pompeii masters; he started to concentrate on his drawing and emphasized the outlines of figures, in an attempt to return to classicism.
I don’t know much about arts.
But we can feel the difference between two arts.
That is, change of root.
By out of this example, let me use my business name card.
This is my business name card in year 2007.
I think name card represents my thoughts and professional working power.
Once someone receives a name card, I believe it should show one’s professional career and give unforgettable feeling to receiver.
Garuso Mansion means that the mansion is located in Garuso.
My office was in Seo-Cho dong before and at that time my company’s name was not Garuso Mansion.
Of course, I had some reason to change my root and company’s name.
And now I run this office.
There are many people who ask why not Garosu design? Why is it mansion?
The mansion is like a highly designed residence formation like apartment.
But in South Korea, it has a little bit different meaning.
Mansion is right in the middle of before apartment is built, from own resident house to an apartment.
When I was a child, I remember when I went over to one of my friend’s house which was a mansion.
I used to play with tops at his front garden.
From those memories, I named my company Mansion.
And I think my company is playground, work place and space where my customers just able to stop by for glad talking and where I work with happy feeling.
That is why I named it ‘Mansion’ instead of using ‘Design’.
If you unfold my name card you can see the bird and bench.
This bench is three dimensional.
That bird means customer or friend or client who comes by to mansion.
You can fold and unfold it.
Even though it is three dimensional, it has disadvantage also.
As it is folded with two parts, it is very expensive.
And this is my new name card after a year.
This is with many people on it.
Of course those people have worked with me from old times.
My opinion is reflected by that name card.
There are many different fields’ professionals.
They are flouriest, stylist, and interior designer.
It includes the concept of win-win strategy of working different areas’ experts all together.
I think the reason why I try to show this company image is because my root and thought were changed.
One good aspect of this name card is that we share the name card if we need one.
Oppositely, I can give my name card to somebody who runs out of his cards.
It is very practical.
The next name card is like a stamp.
Anywhere, any papers, and even tissues can be my name card after I stamp it.
But as the stamp’s volume is heavy, cutting with a name card format is very irritating.
Next name card is the one that I use recently.
The design is like a stamp card but also, it can be printed out.
You can tell by seeing it, what kind of job I have.
I wrote ‘Furniture’ above and definition of ‘Interior’.
Just like out of this name card, according to one’s life root change, people can change one’s behavior and describing way.
Then, how can you make your life root strong by absorbing enough of nutrition?
In other words, how can you know yourself and try to develop and overcome from your weakness? You can travel to overseas and go to academies, or read books.
There is no limit at all. But before you go through all the process there is one important factor that must be done.
First thing to do is realize the fundamentals of the root.
It’s one of the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology.
Representative of minimalism architect, van der Rohe said that "less is more".
This means if the decoration is less then it becomes abundant.
Different meanings can be put as, if you put more formally into moderation, then it forms more closely to essentials.
Besides the condition, it is essentials, besides the result, it is the cause, and besides the outward form, it is an inward form.
How about this? How was the representative of Minimalism architect, Mies’ root affected?
It is very irony but from Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel is a German architect and a representative of classicism architects.
This picture is Nicolai Church main architecture of Schinkel.
Mies and Schinkel’s architectures seem totally different.
It seems no similarities.
What was Mies influenced by Schinkel?
What Mies saw from Schinkel was his wide proportional, regulation rhythmical units, and a simple regular hexahedron of a bulk castle.
It is a little difficult story.
Thus, the meaning of an inner essential was awakened of Mies.
If you mention about proportionate then we cannot ignore master’s artist.
He is Leonardo Da Vinci.
He is talented designer and painter who left many master pieces such as 'Mona Lisa' or 'The Last Supper'
But what is Da Vinci liked the most and showed the best talent?
It is cooking.
Da Vinci managed a palace banquet business for 30 years.
While he was preparing , he spent 2 years to appreciate the cook and a grape wine in that piece.
Like this, versatile person, Da Vinci’s motto was to show the living taste of real food as it is.
Basically, he thought that pursue of essential taste is the first step in cooking.
Just like him, to know an object essence was part of knowing one’s root.
Then, how did Mies realize Schinkel’s essential of architecture?
From this point on, I would like to tell you a second story.
Let’s try to look at the matters different point of view.
Let me give an easy example.
In a ceremony hall or a banquet hall, you can see a chandelier.
The definition from the dictionary is shown that chandelier is a light which hangs from the ceiling and has a different radial shape.
It’s a light.
It is chandelier has various lights.
I designed this cafe in Garosu road.
I used one lights but made chandelier attaching various shapes.
I watch movies or television in order to look different point of view.
I watch commercial too.
You too watch television don’t you?
Could you turn it on?
It is one of the scenes from a movie.
What is the main character doing?
And then how many people are there beside the main character?
What kind of pattern does the background has?
What color or shape of light was it?
This is the difference of point of view.
Whenever I go to overseas, I turn my television on.
I don’t understand much, but I keep turn it on.
I just watch its background.
Could you change the slide?
I believe every design starts from one spot.
When dots are gathered together, it forms a line; when lines gathered together, it forms a circle or side; when sides are gathered together, it forms a three dimension structure.
And this three dimension structures turns out to be a notion of space.
In other words, space starts from dots.
I think we need different point of view to see essential things.
What I have just said, how are they related to the future?
I think as this way.
In order to meet a better future, we need to prepare the present.
If I make my root strong and firm and to develop, thus, to get prepare the uncertainty of future.
You all are a designer.
For our better life and designing it, we gather together here.
Even now, you are designing your own life.
I am not a futurist.
Not even a glib talker with bunch of experiences.
If you want me to talk about an interior design trend in 2011, I will be happy to do so later.
I believe my image of future and your image of your future are in my and your mind and mental.
Thank you.