Go to Studio

Kim Misu’s studio MISU A BARBE is located in a quiet alley away from the main thoroughfares in Seongsu-dong, which is recently booming as a hot neighborhood. From the start, her studio is designed for both work and relaxation. It’s full of witty and yet familiar props suggestive of her designs. Hardwood and green plants in the studio create a friendly and yet exotic atmosphere. Her studio gives a feeling of happiness, warmth and comfort, like being in a fluffy knit on a spring day. It harks back to the story of one who once dreamed of being a movie director, but is now a designer opening up new avenues.

Between alleys in Hapjeong-dong residential area packed with its low-built buildings of rustic charm, there is a hidden place filled with greens. The three of them have been friends since childhood and now work in different disciplines. They wanted a link with green nature. While looking a way to enjoy camping and bask in green spaces within the city, they found a gardening project group, Namu river cloud. None of them are plant experts, but they volunteered to be a farmer for planting and raising greens whenever they have time. Thanks to their efforts, the space has been transformed into a beautiful place – a tranquil oasis of green within the beating heart of the urban jungle. Hopefully more people come and draw comfort from the glorious nature here.

There is an old sauna in Seongsu-dong residential area where rows of multiplex houses standing along the street. But, you would be startled if you go there for a bath. When you arrive, you will be greeted by two photographers with big cameras: Kim Kyung-su and Kim Seong-jae, they are the same age and both create photographs for magazines and ads. They bought an out-of-business sauna and remodeled it as a studio, namely SSSAUNA STUDIO. They did not change the building much. The broken tiling and smoke-lined ceiling were left as they were. Such details in fact added to the uniqueness of SSSAUNA STUDIO. There is an old sauna in Seongsu-dong. Here, you can shed your old ways of thinking and clear your mind.

A sweet little studio stands surrounded by white walls at a corner of Namyangju. Filled with samples, black-and-white illustrations and well-organized collections of books on nature, the studio of artist Lee So-young creating miniature paintings of plants suggests her style of work. Others call it art, but she describes her miniature plant painting as science. In her words, she does not paint, but record. Everything in her studio is part of her work. She records the look of each and every species in works which each represents a different, small and yet ambitious wish: that someday, someone will remember the exact name of all the plants in her drawings.