Unvanish Hannam • 언베니쉬 한남

Unvanish Hannam (언베니쉬 한남) is a Korean brand that sells perfume, body oil, hand wash, body wash, and life fragrance. Stumbled upon this store during one of my shopping trip with my friend around Hannam area. Saw their posters plastered on the walls outside the building and we decided to climbed up the stairs to the second floor to check the place out.

Pleasant aromatic scent greeted us as soon as we stepped into the store. The place isn’t too big. But just like the majority of the shops around here, it is well-designed. Their products are displayed around the space that is decorated with modern minimalistic furniture and fixtures. One corner resembles a small living room and on the other they have an open bathroom display area with bathtub and sink where you can use to test their hand or body wash.

Sea of ​​Green Life Mood Spray (씨 오브 그린 라이프 무드 스프레이) ₩59,000

Elegant AldehydeㅣCool MuskㅣSea Beyond the Grass
3.38 fl oz. (100 ml)

TOP     ALDEHYDE, GRAPEFRUIT, MANDARIN
MID     ROSE, MUGUET, VIOLET
BASE   MOSS, SANDALWOOD, MUSK, TONKA

“The elegant and clean aldehyde scent will capture the tip of your nose the moment you apply it. The light floral scent is reminiscent of the sea beyond the grassy plains. The scent of musk and soft sandalwood is finished with  the whisper of a cool sea breeze and the scent of ripples in the earth, bringing to mind memories of early morning walks along the sea.” —Unvanish

Out of all the scents, both me and my friend like the Sea of Green Life the best. But unfortunately, all the Sea of Green products were out of stock when we were there so we couldn’t purchase any. We took it as a sign that we should go back again next time. If you’re looking for perfume around Hannam-dong area, this place is worth checking out. 

Image Courtesy: Unvanish Website

 

Unvanish Hannam • 언베니쉬 한남

Address: 서울 용산구 이태원로49길 19 2층 언베니쉬
Telephone: 070-4129-3333
Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 11:30-20:00 (Closed on Mondays)

Instagram: @unvanish.official
Website

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Pan Am Seongsu Flagship Store • 팬암 성수플래그쉽스토어

Pan Am Seongsu Flagship Store (팬암 성수플래그쉽스토어) is one of the many cool stores that you can find in Seongsu-dong neighborhood. Opened by a Seoul-based fashion company SJ Group who acquired the brand’s merchandise licensing, Pan Am sells men’s and women’s apparel, accessories, bags and home decor products that are inspired by the airline’s rich history with a modern spin to the designs. The store itself is also a reflection of that same concept. Designed by South Korean architects NiiiZ DESIGN LAB (@niiizdesignlab), they combined the rugged concrete structure left by the old factory who used to occupy the building with more futuristic and sleek fixtures and furnitures decorating the interior, making the store looks like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. 

If you’re not familiar with the brand, Pan Am—also known as Pan American World Airways—was one of the leading and most well-known US airline during the 1950s until the 1970s. The brand was associated with luxury intercontinental travels with little competition on the market during what many Americans considered as the golden  era of air travel. The company was in operational for 64 years before it ceased operation in 1991. But even after that, their blue globe logo—also known as “The Blue Meatball”—which was used from 1973 to 1991 is still one of the most recognizable piece of their history. 

I personally have heard about and seen Pan Am since I was young. But the one thing that kind of cemented its association with luxury travels in my brain was when I watched the Catch Me If You Can movie (one of my favorite movie of all time actually) where the main character Frank Abagnale Jr. who’s a master of deception and excellent forger pretended to be a Pan Am pilot and got away with it. He lived such a glamorous life during that period of his life and the movie does make it looks like working as an Pan Am pilot comes with certain status symbol and privilege.

Seeing how a fairly iconic brand that’s well-known for its vintage heritage designs translated and adapted into a more modern and sporty direction is always interesting. And I have to say they did a pretty good job at adapting Pan Am’s original branding to the product line-ups they have in store (granted they steer towards the more general sporty lifestyle direction instead of the aviation inspired direction). One thing that I like about their apparel collections is they have a lot of pieces with discreet logo, subtler designs and nice materials. I ended up purchasing a couple of t-shirts (pics below) from the store because the materials are pretty thick (not too flimsy but not too thick either), nice and comfortable and they have crewneck that’s not too wide (I even buy another one of the same model just cause this has become one of my favorite t-shirt to wear 😆).

If you’re looking for basic apparels with nice materials, subtle branding, and a somewhat gender neutral colors and styles, definitely check out this store if you’re around Seongsu area. 

 

Pan Am Seongsu Flagship Store • 팬암 성수플래그쉽스토어

Address: 서울 성동구 연무장길 89 1층
Telephone: 02-3409-5976
Hours: Everyday 11:00-20:00

Instagram: @panam_kr

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Granhand Seochon • 그랑핸드 서촌

My very first encounter with GRANHAND (그랑핸드) was when I passed by their store in Bukchon (북촌) during my first visits to Seoul. Located in the midst of a residential area on the main path leading up to the heart of Bukchon Hanok Village (북촌한옥마을), the small store immediately attracted my attention and I ended up browsing through different perfume bottles and scents minutes later. Not long after my initial visit, I encountered another one of their stores in Samcheong-dong (삼청동). Since then, GRANDHAND has been on my radar and I’ve bought their perfumes on several different occasions

Started in 2014 with their first location in Bukchon Hanok Village, GRANHAND has now expanded into six beautifully designed stores located all over Seoul. On top of offering a variety of selection of fragrances for daily use, GRANHAND also prides themselves in creating memorable experiences for their customers through their offline stores where people can smell their scents and touch their products.

GRANHAND Seochon (그랑핸드 서촌) is (I believe) the third location that they opened. The store definitely feels like an upgrade from the two previous ones that I’ve been to. While the other two occupies a smaller space, GRANHAND Seochon occupies a more spacious area with modern minimalist interior where they display their products.

A couple of interesting things that I found out from my visits are, one, if you’re a tourist and you pay cash, they offer a discount/tax-free option for your purchase (they asked for my passport for proof that I’m not a local resident). Two, you can get a free name-stamping service for the products you purchase. I don’t know if they’re still doing it today, but at least on my last visit, they did. So if you’re planning to buy something from the store and want to take advantage of these perks, make sure to ask them if they are still offering them.

 

Granhand Seochon • 그랑핸드 서촌

Address: 서울 종로구 자하문로4길 14-2
Telephone: 02-333-6525
Hours: Everyday 11:30-20:30

Instagram: @granhand_official

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Gentle Monster The Salvation Moon • 젠틀몬스터 플래그십스토어

Visiting Gentle Monster Sinsa flaghip store (젠틀몬스터 신사동 플래그십스토어) to check out their new installation has somewhat became a tradition for me every time I visited Garosugil (가로수길) after I haven’t been to the area for a while. Since they always change their interior almost every season, it almost feels like visiting a new store every time I stepped into their newest campaign. But at the same time, the place also gave me a sense of familiarity since the location, the layout of the building, and the products they are selling remained unchanged. Here’s what the current campaign is all about:

Gentle Monster kicks off the ‘13’ Campaign in Korea through a reimagined Sinsa Flagship named, ‘The Salvation Moon’, The new space tells a story of the world impacted and changed after the 13th Month, painting the stories of survival of different life forms. The Sinsa showroom illustrates an oriental hope-filled message behind the struggles and desperation of those whom worship and pray to the new moon for salvation.

— Gentle Monster website

The one thing that struck me the most when I stepped into the store was that the installations reminded me of Stranger Things for some reason. The combination of the outer space elements with creatures that resemble monsters, or aliens really, gave me a strong Stranger Things vibes, especially the flower-shaped-claw-machine like installation that opens and closes slowly on the second floor. It really reminded me of the head of the Demogorgon. Anybody else think so too or is it just me?

Gentle Monster Sinsa Flaghip Store • 젠틀몬스터 신사동 플래그십스토어

Address: 서울특별시 강남구 압구정로10길 23
Telephone: 070-5080-0196
Hours: 12:00 - 21:00 Daily

Instagram: @gentlemonster

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Gentle Monster Garosu-Gil (pt.2)

The second floor has the bathroom theme going on and bedroom was the theme for the basement floor. They did a really great job setting up and picking up all the furnishing for the rooms. And I definitely appreciate the little details that they got going on, like the soap they put on top of the sink. Nice touch. I definitely wouldn't mind having this kind of bathroom in my house btw :P

After looking up the concept of the store online on the Gentle Monster's website, here's what I found:

"Gentle Monster's 5th Space, 'Home and Recovery', is the intersection of space with emotional context of home and recovery. The space which covers up past traces presents emotional recovery through intuitive objects and different themes."

If you're ever in the Garosu-gil area and you are into nicely designed spaces and cool sunglasses, definitely check this place out.

ps: See part 1 of this post here.

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