Works drew praise at Milan Design Week in April

Pieces to join DDP permanent collection after exhibition closes

An exhibition view of "Seoul's Soban." [Provided by Seoul Design Foundation]
An exhibition view of "Seoul's Soban." [Provided by Seoul Design Foundation]

The Seoul Design Foundation announced Wednesday that it will hold the exhibition "SEOUL LIFE 2026: Heritage Reimagined, Soban" at the DDP Design Dulle-gil Gallery from Monday through Oct. 8. The show will feature 17 "soban" — traditional Korean low tables — that were first unveiled at Milan Design Week in April to widespread acclaim.

The works made their debut at the ADI Design Museum during Milan Design Week in April, drawing 20,346 visitors. The pieces were praised for reinterpreting Korean tradition through a contemporary lens, earning recognition for both the curatorial vision and the artistic quality of translating traditional Korean lifestyle culture into present-day design.

A soban is a small dining table used for meals and refreshments that can also be carried and stored, and it has evolved into a wide variety of forms and structures depending on region and purpose. Its compact, portable design reflects the Korean tradition of individual dining — one person, one table — as well as a communal way of life built around face-to-face interaction.

The works draw on a broad range of techniques, from traditional crafts such as woodworking, lacquerwork and mother-of-pearl inlay to modern production methods including 3D printing and digital modeling.

A total of 17 designer teams participated in the exhibition — 13 domestic and four international. Working within the soban's fundamental form and structure, the designers expanded its materials, production methods and uses in new directions. Traditional techniques such as lacquerwork and mother-of-pearl inlay were realized through collaboration with specialist craftspeople, while the combination of digital fabrication and contemporary materials opened new possibilities for tradition and technology to coexist.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a design talk featuring participating designers and production specialists will be held at DDP on Wednesday. Under the theme "Contemporary Reinterpretation and Fabrication of the Traditional Soban," designers Kim Jong-wan, Kim Jin-sik, Leju, Seong Jeong-gi, Son Dong-hun and Lee Gi-yong, along with lacquer specialist Jeong Sang-yeop, will discuss the creative and production processes behind their works and the collaboration between traditional techniques and modern technology.

All 17 pieces on display will be added to the DDP permanent collection after the exhibition closes. The foundation plans to preserve and manage the works systematically and use them in future exhibitions, research and education programs, building them into an asset that connects Seoul's living culture with contemporary design.

The Seoul Design Foundation is a Seoul Metropolitan Government agency established in 2008 to promote the development of the design industry.

"The soban is a design asset that carries Korea's traditional lifestyle culture while remaining flexibly connected to contemporary life," Seoul Design Foundation CEO Cha Gang-hee said. "Through this exhibition, we hope to share with the public the soban as reimagined by designers from Korea and abroad, and to carry it forward as a design record that reflects Seoul today."


ikson@heraldcorp.com