Kolon Sports took its chance at the beginning of this year by deciding to recruit Arik Levy, one of the world's top three industrial designers for its new mountaineering gear. Some Kolon staff opposed recruiting him, saying there was no need to hire such a highly-paid designer for mountaineering gear, which usually sells to middle-aged people. But the gamble paid off, and Levy helped to raise brand recognition. Encouraged by this success, Kolon is planning to work with other leading designers in the long term by establishing a designer pool.
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Arik Levy in an outdoor outfit he designed for Kolon's Transition label.
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Now the world¡¯s top designers are making a beeline for Korea. Philippe Starck, Arik Levy and Karim Rashid, the world's top three industrial designers have all cooperated with Korean companies. Rashid designed Hyundai Card's black credit card, Arena's swimwear and LG Household & Health Care cosmetics brand Isa Knox' Cellience. He also designed Hanwha¡¯s Corporate Identity. His OpenBooks bookshelves for its world literature series are so popular that even knockoffs are produced.
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Karim Rashid and the ¡®Mr.Know¡¯ bookshelves he designed for OpenBooks.
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The "techno-poet" Arik Levy recently designed besides Kolon's Transition sports outdoor wear Haeng Nam Chinaware's Fluid collection and is now working on LG Electronics mobile phones. Philippe Starck earlier launched Yoo-K design company in cooperation with Kolon Engineering & Construction.
Paul Smith's chief designer Rober Ryan, meanwhile, has created patterns for FnC Kolon's Manstar menswears and LG Electronics' Cyon Crystal Edition mobile phones. Hyundai Card's M credit cards and new alphabet series are all the work of Leon Stolk. Ross Lovegrove, Marcel Wanders, Matali Crasset and other famous industrial designers are now discussing collaborative ¡°art marketing¡± with various Korean companies.
Last July, Samsung Electronics recruited Jasper Morrison as an executive. The British design star takes charge of designs for mobile phones and home appliances. Kia Motors last year appointed Peter Schreyer, one of the world's top three car designers, as its chief design officer. Now designer management agencies which link companies with foreign designers are springing up. So far, designers came on board through mutual contacts.
International designers regard Korea as an emerging market. One agent said, "In design exhibits or other design shows overseas, many foreign designers approach me and give me their name cards saying they want to work in Korea. The Korean market, which is less competitive and more crowded with new investors, is a kind of 'blue ocean' for them." Design expert Jeon Eun-kyung said, "Famous designers aim to enter the Chinese market by using Korea as a bridgehead."
They are not that highly-paid. OpenBooks President Hong Ji-woong said, "I paid Karim Rashid a total of W37 million (US$1=W916) for the bookshelf, W30 million for designing and W7 million for naming it. The world's top designers don't require massive amounts of money for their design if the work harmonizes with their philosophy." A design industry insider said, "I heard that a Korean design company got W100 million for creating the CI for a domestic mobile operator. But I also heard that a foreign premium-class designer got 1.5 to two times as much as the Korean company did, for creating the CI for a large domestic enterprise." Another insider said, "First-class designers usually get W100 million for designing electronic devices and W500 million to W600 million for creating the CIs if they provide an one-stop service from concept to design. For design concept only, they get about W100 million."
"Many Korean companies pour a great deal of money into attracting leading foreign designers for PR effect but don¡¯t get the expected profit because of communication problems. It is more important to manage them well than to attract them recklessly," a Kolon executive warned.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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