Sulwhasoo's Seoul Bukcheon Village Flagship Store
Today's musings are on AMOREPACIFIC's top beauty brand, Sulwhasoo. While doing research, I noticed a great amount of Western luxury brands incorporate traditional Korean elements into their brand communication strategy, especially true for Vogue Korea editorials. I looked back at the Korean brands and found that Sulwhasoo was the pioneer in terms of truly leveraging its cultural heritage to position itself at the top of the pyramid.
Earlier today, I went on a stroll through Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul, home to hundreds of traditional houses, called hanok, home to one of Sulwhasoo's flagship stores. Some thoughts:
ππππππππππ ππππππ ππππππππ π ππ ππππππ πππππππππππ: There are some other examples that I will be sharing over the coming weeks, but Sulwhasoo was one of the first to highlight Korean cultural heritage and I feel like so far, they did it best. Thereβs a plethora of traditional elements, from the space itself through furniture, interior design objects, acessories, and product packaging
πππππππππ πππππππππ ππππ πππππππππ: Choi Wook, Head Architect of ONE O ONE Architects's took two buildings and molded them into one modernized space, a hybrid between a πππ§π¨π€ from the 1930s and πππ§π π¨π€ (Western style house) from the 1960s, the perfect expression of the brand DNA β Korean Ginseng is the core ingredient, traditionally used to boost the immune system, but the brand applies state-of-the-art technology and research to use it to its full capacity
πππππππππππππ ππππ ππππππππ πππ πππππππ: the spaces are filled with traditional Korean furniture, but also modern reinterpretations created by famous modern Korean artists such as Yoo Seungmin of Studio Shinyoo and Kim Mu Yeul (I'm still speechless at how beautiful their designs are)
πππππππππππππ ππππππ: one of the cost of rapid modernization and having half of the country's almost 52million population living in the Seoul capital area is the lack of nature β the flagship features a beatiful garden space, accessible both from the Sulwhasoo space and the OSULLOC tea house (another Amorepacific brand) situated in the flagship
ππππππππππ-π ππππππ πππππ: everything is about experience β the Hanok part allows visitors to immerse themselves in the brand's aesthetics and the Yangok has both an area to try out the beauty products and a louge area, a small library curated by the brand, a kitchen area for serving drinks, and a workshop area for small groups
πππππππππ ππππ-πππππππ ππππππ ππππππππ: Not only are the Client Advisors friendly and welcoming, they also know every little detail about the brand and flagship store space, including the featured artists
ππππππππππππππ β The seating areas feature a brand book but also the company's newest sustainability report, openly communicating to visitors the brandsβ efforts in the area
πππππππππππππππ β The store offers in-store packaging engraving service, it can be both a longer phrase or a name; I would also like to note that the gift packaging options are extremely beautiful and and resemble traditional pouches
... and much more. A top, must-visit location in Seoul, especially for those who truly appreciate Korean traditional culture.
