Presh • 프레쉬

“PRESH is a designer brand launched in Seoul in 2013 with the motto of ‘freshness’.

We think that ‘freshness’ means that the quality of the product, the novelty, and the unique design should make you feel new. We are a lifestyle, fashion and living brand that releases 2-4 of these series every year. We make valuable objects and pursue valuable consumption regardless of the season.”

— Presh Website

My first visit to the Presh (프레쉬) showroom was a memorable one. First of all, I was not expecting to find the store in the middle of Seoul’s quiet residential area. The store was on the second floor and surrounded by what I believe were apartments building with no other commercial stores in sight. When we entered the space, we were greeted by neatly organized shelves, racks, and tables displaying their well-designed products.

If you like to browse around design or knick knack shops around Seoul, you probably have seen their products at some point. It’s kind of hard to miss those silver tin containers with colorful labels wrapped around them. Presh sells a variety of products including candles (which is their product that I most often see in other shops), t-shirts, aprons, tote bags, pouch, and phone cases. Each of them are stored in silver tin containers which I thought was pretty cool. Presh has two types of containers, one that has a detachable top lid and the other one is the tin can version where the top lid open like those food tin cans. I thought that’s a pretty neat idea for a packaging.

Second of all, not only did I meet the owner (maybe one of the owners, not sure how many people own this brand) but I also met the graphic designer who was responsible for all the graphics and packaging for Presh. They were very nice and welcoming. They showed us around the store while explaining their products here and there and answered all the questions that I have for them. I always like chatting with the store owners and get to know their products more. It makes the whole shopping experience more fun and I got to find out interesting tidbits about the brand that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. In this instance, one of the thing that made it more fun was because the graphic designer speaks English so sometimes when I don’t understand something in Korean, she translated it for me immediately.

Anyway, my cousin and I ended up buying a couple of candles (they have great selection of scents) and an apron to gift to our friend and they gave us free soap samples and stickers for our purchase. If you’re looking for candles or gift ideas, I definitely recommend to check out their brand.

*These photos were taken in 2017. Since then, their showroom has been renewed in the same location.

Presh • 프레쉬

Address: 서울 마포구 성지3길 60 진원빌딩
Telephone: 02-707-0052
Hours: 13:00 - 19:-00 Daily

Instagram: @getpresh

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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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Marymond Lounge • 마리몬드 라운지

I found Marymond Lounge (마리몬드 라운지) purely by accident during one of my neighborhood exploration walks. The weather was hot and after almost an hour of walking around, I was craving for something cold and refreshing and this place came into my view at the right timing so I decided to go in. Marymond Lounge is not only a cafe, but also a store as well as a community place from what I gathered after I went in and spent a good hour there. At first, I thought it was a normal store that sells goods ranging from clothing, bags, accessories, and phone cases. But then I saw a sign saying that they are also supporting some kinda of a cause. My Korean vocabulary wasn’t good enough to understand what the whole statement meant, so I decided to google it. And here’s what I found out:

“Marymond started eight years ago as a way to help restore the dignity of the victims, euphemistically called comfort women, who were forced to work at frontline brothels for the Japanese army.

A bracelet attached with a small charm of a girl statue - a symbol of comfort women - is sold at 12,000 won (S$14.50), while an eco-bag with simple Marymond logo is 10,000 won. Proceeds from the sale goes into a fund to care for the 37 surviving victims and to establish a sex slavery museum.

The company's success is not just driven by public interest in the unsolved issue, a long-standing thorn in Korea-Japan relations, but also reflects the rise of "conscious" consumption, experts say.”

Source: Strait Times (Read the full article here)

I think it’s cool what they are doing with the brand and how it raises awareness to different social issues in the community. Plus I think the items are very well-designed too. After I finished my drink, I left the lounge right before they were closing it for a private gathering of a group of young people. Also, I believe I’ve seen their products on different stores around Seoul so if you’re interested in buying any of the Marymond products, just keep an eye on them when you go shopping.

Marymond Lounge • 마리몬드 라운지

Address: 서울특별시 성동구 서울숲6길 12
Telephone: 070-4245-8865
Hours: 11.00 - 21.00 Daily

Instagram: @themarymond

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Yurt Studio • 유르트 스튜디오

“ 'YURT' comes from the idea where designer's sensibility meets craftsmanship authentically within nature and life style. Based on the idea of human beings belong to the nature. We only use organic materials and vegetable leather to maximize its quality.” — YURT STUDIO

Yurt Studio (유르트 스튜디오) is a handmade leather workshop run by a husband-and-wife design team. Located in Hannam-dong (한남동), Yurt Studio crafts limited-edition leather shoes and bags, including its signature pastry-shaped clutch, the Croissant Bag. Their studio workshop currently serves as a cafe as well where people can come and browse around the store, as well as see what’s going on around the workshop. By combining the two spaces, Yurt Studio wishes to show people the home of someone who loves leather craftsmanship.

In an interview with Samsung Newsroom, Kim Yong-min, who runs Yurt Studio, says, "We wanted to create a space where we can better show our thoughts about the leather we pursue." To do this, he chose the current Yurt Studio with a new yard to move to, and he said, "We have also added a Yurt Cafe so that more people can come in." This new nest was transformed into a living space for Yurt and a perfect workplace.

I visited Yurt Studio with my cousin and Soo Zee on one spring day. Greeted by the spacious lawn when you walk in, coming to Yurt Studio definitely feels like you’re visiting the home of a friend. There is outdoor seating area around the lawn where you can sit under the shade. The building itself has two floors and a rooftop area. The first floor is where the Yurt Cafe, Yurt Workshop, and display areas are. The second floor has more seating area as well as display areas for the leather products sold in store. The rooftop is pretty spacious as well, but as the afternoon sun was pretty hot, we decided to just sit in the lawn area on the first floor after ordering our drinks from the Yurt Cafe. Come here and check out their handmade leather products or enjoy drinks from their cafe and play with Hato, their black french bulldog ;)

Update: As of 10 August 2019, Yurt Studio has moved to a new location.

Yurt Studio • 유르트 스튜디오

Address: 서울특별시 용산구 한남동 641-6
Telephone: 02-3444-7064

Website: Yurt Studio
Instagram: @yurt_official

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I Hate Monday • 아이헤이트먼데이

If you have visited enough shops that sells local brands in Seoul, you’ll probably notice this one socks brand that keeps making appearances over and over again in different stores and locations. I Hate Monday (아이헤이트먼데이) is a popular Korean socks brand that was started with the main goal is to beat the Monday Blues.

The founder of the brand, sock designer Hong Jung Mi started this business because she used to hate going back to work on Monday after the weekend. "When you think of going to work on Monday, you often start to get nervous from Sunday evening onwards. So I decided to make something fun, creative and unique to help make people feel a bit more comfortable on their way to work," she said on an interview with The Chosunilbo. This sentiment clearly resonates with a lot of people since after started selling her socks on a vending machine in Sinsa-dong, it became really really popular and the business has only became a bigger and more popular until these days.

The brand has now expanded their socks line as well as working with other brands for collaboration projects. Their latest collaboration project includes working together with Innocean Worldwide to make braille socks for visually impaired (read the article here).

When I visited the store, I ended up talking with the person who was manning the store for a bit and she did told me about the story of her boss quitting her corporate job to start this brand because she really hated Mondays. Now that she owns this successful brand, I don’t think she hates Monday as much as she used to ;)

I Hate Monday • 아이헤이트먼데이

Address: 서울특별시 마포구 합정동 363-30
Telephone: 070-4028-1867
Hours: 11:30 - 19:00 (Weekdays. Lunch Break: 12:30 - 14:00) | 13:00 - 18:00 (Saturdays) | Closed on Sundays.

Website: I Hate Monday
Instagram: @ihatemondaysocks

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