INCHEON – Cutting through the sugary
cuteness normally associated with teddy
bears, a new store for artisan Joanne Oh
by Seoul-based office WGNB frames her
handmade cuddly toys within a dramatic,
3D linear architecture. Located on the
first floor of the the Paradise City Plaza, in
Incheon, Korea, the 115.5-m^2 space is both
shop and showroom, and it celebrates the
craft origins of the bears, which have won
a cult following in Korea and beyond.
The concept is based on the fact that
Joanne Oh hand-weaves the mohair fabric
that she uses to make the bears herself,
colouring the resulting materials with
natural dyes. ‘We think it’s interesting to see
the moment when the “skin” of the bears is
produced by hand,’ says WGNB’s Nayoon
Yang. ‘So we opted to make the main motif
of the space the handlooms and the mohair
yarn that’s woven on them.’ Wooden loom
structures, interlaced with metal wire that
represents the mohair threads, define the
store, forming an elegant environment that’seffectively a geometric line-art installation.
‘We think it’s important to seduce custom-
ers by adding impact to a retail space,’ says
WGNB chief, Jonghwan Baek. ‘So we set out
to create an impressive environment using
only the handlooms and acrylic containers.’
These brightly coloured acrylic
boxes, added to act as product displays,
were developed together with designer
Rahae Yoon. ‘We dyed the acrylic material
ourselves, to get the custom colours we
wanted’ says Yang. ‘We did lots of tests and
chose colours that make the bears stand out.
We think the vivid shades add liveliness to
the bears.’ The colour combinations also
evoke the traditional Korean Jokabo (patch-
work) technique that Joanne Oh employs for
one of her teddy bear collections. Perfecting
the acrylic boxes took at least ten experi-
mental versions, says Yang: ‘Korean design
right now is all about discovering new mate-
rials and novel processes.’ – JS
wgnb.krWGNB’s design of a teddy bear store
in South Korea honours the handlooms
used to craft the cuddly toys.Yo
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