Wow
Today's hidden gem is Ria De Sophora,
a very artistic and unique gallery cafe located in Daebudo.
Daebudo is a very beautiful island in Gyeonggi area
And it takes only 1 hour by car from Seoul.
This cafe consists of 1st floor, the green house,
2nd floor, the loft,
And Nariya garden.
Then let's explore this hidden gem in Korea!
This space is filled with all the stuff I've collected.
They are all vintage teacups.
This Italian tea can't be shipped directly to South Korea.
So I got the tea through another country.
This is where I make all the desserts.
This is a space I've never shown anyone.
It's like a hidden place of this cafe.
Do you make all the desserts yourself?
Yes, I make them all myself.
Then you paint, make desserts, and run this cafe... All by yourself?
Yes, basically I'm doing everything.
I displayed some photos that our customers took,
photos that I took, and my paintings.
I made them into postcards, and I'm selling them.
And I'm donating the money to organizations for rescued dogs/cats.
I've been running my cafe for 3 years.
You can see the memories here.
I'm guessing you have similar tastes to me.
If I had a house, this is how I would decorate it.
This place feels like Europe and Chiang Mai, Thailand.
That's because I brought all my furniture from different countries.
The furniture is also from a different age.
For that reason, this place is filled with my taste.
Wow
There are so many different plants and flowers here.
They are beautiful.
You know I'm getting older. That's why I love plants so much nowadays.
You know all the old generations in Korea especially my mom and dad.
They are setting their KakaoTalk profile as flowers. You know about it.
I want to do that, too.
This is so pretty.
This is a healing place.
I want my customers to come here and heal their soul.
On the first floor, you can enjoy the green house concept of place
along with all the plants, flowers, and arts.
This purple table looks very unique.
Did you make it by yourself?
She made it by herself!
Oh my god, this table. Looking so beautiful.
All the lights look different.
Every piece of furniture is different, too.
I needed a table.
Below is my grandmother's closet.
And I recycled this door.
This was a door?
Yes, it's a door from an old closet.
I just ordered this glass.
I was very impressed because she recycled all the trash
and made it into some beautiful art pieces.
Now, let's go up to the 2nd floor.
Here's like a small gallery and loft at the same time.
I think here's like a private gallery.
I wanted people to come to this place and enjoy my art.
That was the main reason I opened this cafe.
It's fun to hear all the different reactions from customers.
Really? Different reactions?
Older people often ask me about my work.
It's very interesting.
She explained her art is about communication.
It's the mixture of nude and emotions such as trauma.
Also, you can enjoy reading here and listening to some music.
Here's like fantastic, right?
The chairs, carpets, and tables are all unique and beautiful.
I love this pattern so much!
I love this style.
I like colorful things, but I like to find order in them.
They are so pretty! Did you get them from all different countries?
Yes, they are from different countries.
Can I sit here?
They are all vintage.
I love it!
This is my favorite painting.
When I was married in 2014,
I had an exhibition in that year.
This is the art from that year.
I expressed my husband & me.
There are paintings, arts,
and all these furnitures,
and there's like a loft, music, and the guitar.
This is like perfect.
Perfect place to date, I think.
Thank you!
They look all amazing!
So I don't know what to order actually.
There are 3 types of cake right now.
That is matcha? Green tea one, I think.
And this is the cheese.
And this is caramel.
I don't know which one is for me.
I actually love green tea so much, so I'm thinking maybe green tea.
I want to have a tea because a coffee is a coffee.
Coffee is coffee, but they have so many different kinds of..
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
There are 9 different types of tea.
They are not earl grey or green tea.
Not like that. So
I want to try something very different.
Oh my goodness. So cute!
Please come in.
Hello. Hi!
Oh my god!
Can you really imagine there's this kind of place behind the cafe?
I mean here's the cafe, too, but...
Wow. I never expected somewhere like this outside.
I couldn't really imagine that.
Hello!
I built the floor myself.
I built here myself.
I've worked on here for 13 years.
13 years?
I've built here for 13 years.
I picked up some things from trash.
Or I purchased some used things.
So pretty, guys!
So pretty!
Oh my goodness.
Here's Korea, seriously?
Here's not Korea!
How can you say here's Korea?
Oh my god.
Here's so Instagramable, I would say.
So if you have an Instagram, you should come here and take lots of photos.
And you can meet these two friendly dogs here, Tanya and Eunsome.
They are all rescued by the cafe owner.
But they love people so much,
so this garden is like their home and cafe at the same time.
Here's what you ordered.
It looks beautiful!
This is a little sweet, but not too sweet.
So I love it.
The smell is very relaxing.
Seriously this is so good!
Not because I'm filming right now, but this is so good!
But I don't know how to describe.
Sorry about my English.
Top is a little caramelized.
But inside is very soft.
It's like creamy.
Now that I'm eating all the desserts and drinking this tea,
now I want to hear more story about this cafe.
How did you open this cafe? I' curious about the story behind it.
It was originally a workspace.
Everything was okay until
I was in a hard situation financially.
It took so long to finish interior because I had to earn money.
I couldn't really work on my art.
My family member was sick, and I was so traumatized.
I've lived my whole life painting,
but I had to make a living.
I was traumatized because of that.
Then I got an idea of changing this place to a cafe.
You are opening your cafe only during the weekend.
Is it the same reason?
I'm the only one running this cafe.
I don't have time to open this cafe during the weekdays.
Because I'm baking, cleaning, managing everything by myself.
Here's about my art and taste,
so you can feel here's different from other places.
Do you have any concerns nowadays?
I didn't open this cafe to make lots of money.
Here's my gallery,
and a home for Tanya & Eunsome.
I wanted that the most.
But if nobody knows about this place, there's no meaning.
There are so many new cafes around Daebudo.
I'm in a hard situation because there are lots of big cares around here.
People really don't know here exists.
This business became tough this year.
I'm worrying a lot because of that reason.
I hope a lot of foreigners come visit here, but I don't speak English.
It's okay!
Please talk with me.
Thank you so much for watching Hidden Gems in Korea.
And all the info about this cafe should be down below.
So check it out!
And see you next time!