Design Miami lands in Seoul for the Illuminated design exhibition

Design Miami in Seoul, Illuminated: A Spotlight on Korean Design – Photo by Ilda Kim, courtesy of Design Miami.

Design. Design Miami has landed in Seoul with a sparkling debut dedicated entirely to Korean collectable design. In collaboration with the Seoul Design Foundation, the fair presents Illuminated: A Spotlight on Korean Design—a major showcase staged inside Zaha Hadid’s iconic Dongdaemun Design Plaza [Until September 14, Map]. Curated by Hyeyoung Cho, the exhibition brings together over 170 works, marking the city’s first large-scale international event for collectable design.

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The show celebrates the depth and diversity of Korea’s creative landscape—where centuries-old craft meets daring new ideas. From porcelain vessels that recall traditional Moonjars to futuristic furniture in resin and quilted fibreglass, the exhibition reveals the many ways designers reinterpret heritage for today. We took a tour through the highlights—here are some of our favourites.

Byung Hoon Choi x Friedman Benda.

Jongjin Park, presented by J. Lohmann Gallery, reinterprets Moonjar craft with his Artistic Distorted Patchwork. Made by layering liquid porcelain over hundreds of paper towels, the vessel takes on a millefeuille-like surface—delicate yet dense, and full of movement.

Jaiik Lee, shown by Salon 94, explores transformation through vessels built from thin copper sheets, spot-welded and porcelain-coated. Fired to achieve iridescent hues, they’re finished with shimmering gold leaf, creating surfaces that shift between metal, ceramic, and light.

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Friedman Benda presents Byung Hoon Choi‘s monolithic sculptures. Carved from granite, clay, and stone, they merge raw materiality with fluid form, embodying the beauty of contrasts: rough yet refined, ancient yet timeless. Los Angeles gallery Marta showcases Minjae Kim’s furnishings for an artist’s retreat, including a daybed, a ruffled chair, and a lamp capped with a tiny roof. Quilted fibreglass, silk, and velvet give the pieces a dreamlike quality—both playful and meditative.

Minjae Kim x Marta Gallery.

SIDE Gallery‘s roster features four acclaimed artists. Gyuhan Lee’s McDonald paper bag lighting merges consumer culture and material reuse with traditional Korean craftsmanship. Hyeokjin Lee offers a thoughtful commentary on human interaction and isolation. His Invisible Chair series is a thought-provoking exploration of the boundary between presence and absence.

Gyuhan Lee, Donghoon Sohn, Hyeokjin Lee for SIDE Gallery.

Other international galleries also showcase standout works, including Heechan Kim‘s delicate walnut and copper hanging sculpture (Charles Burnand Gallery), Wonmin Park‘s urban stone-and-steel seat (Carpenters Workshop Gallery).

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Seoul-based talents are also in the spotlight. FABRIKR experiments with epoxy resin not as a coating but as a structure itself, shaping it into a nest-like table and sparrow-inspired chair. Leather weaver Dahyeon Yoo draws on Joseon-era rice straw techniques, reimagining them in leather for her Harmony series of woven cases. Her work, like much of the exhibition, beautifully bridges past and present—showing how Korean craft traditions continue to inspire fresh design stories.