DMY Berlin

From December 13-17, 2007, the capital of South Korea hosts its 6th Seoul Design Festival under the motto “Design SeOUL”. As a platform for young design, DMY presents the work of some 20 Berlin-based designers, amongst which contributions by Susanne Philippson, Formfjord, Mark Braun, Martin Schatz, Osko&Deichmann, JPECH.NET, Fuchs+Funke, Andrea Pössniker, 50/50 and Studiohausen.

Over the past three years, the exchange between DMY Berlin and the Seoul Design Festival has continued to flourish. In 2005, DMY presented work produced by 20 young designers at the Seoul Design Festival for the very first time - and Korean artists have been regularly featured at the ‘DMY International Design Exhibition‘ in Berlin ever since. As a result, further projects were launched in cooperation with Seoul, such as the exhibition ‘redesign > korean rubber shoes‘, which took place as a special exhibition within the framework of the 5th International Design Exhibition DMY in May 2007 at the Embassy of South Korea, or the exhibition ‘Designcluster <asien>‘, which was presented within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Weeks in September 2007 in Berlin.

At this particular event, the ‘Switch’ lamp by Korean designer label Story & Teller was received with such enthusiasm that it will be available in Berlin starting 2008, reveals Joerg Suermann, curator and creator of DMY. Originally conceived as an exchange project, the exhibition ‘redesign > korean rubber shoes’ was first presented in 2006 at the Seoul Design Festival, and obtained such a resounding response that it sparked off a series of new projects, both at the Embassy of South Korea in Berlin as well as at the Seoul Design Festivals. Consequently, the exhibition concept ‘Designer’s Lab’ - conceived by Chiho Kim, Korean Designer and Art Director of the Seoul Design Festival - will display interpretations of a taekwondo outfit devised by international designers, amongst which a few Berliners, within the context of this year’s Seoul Design Festival.

The motto of the Seoul Design Festival 2005 - which featured DMY’s initial participation in Korea, was “Designer Promotion”, a theme that remains crucial for many young designers. This year, ‘SeOUL Design’ will be the focus of attention. Therefore, DMY delegation has packed its bags with Berlin soul, be it the re-importation of porcelain fortune cookies by Martin Schatz or the ‘Spring’ clothes-hangers by formfjord. Inspired by measuring tape, this clothes-hanger consists of a simple folding mechanism which can easily be slipped into narrow necklines, automatically springing back into its original shape. As for ‘Guardian’, Susanne Philippson’s standard lamp‚ ensures that the Berlin exhibition appears in the right light. For indeed, besides contact mediation between designers and the industry, DMY strive to introduce young Berlin designers to the Asia region so as to demonstrate their value and their potential

And therefore, just as in the past years, DMY will return to Berlin in 2008 brimming with inspiration and new projects for the 6th edition of the ‘DMY International Design Exhibition’ 2008. We await the results with great impatience!