“The WOULDA COULDA SHOULDA DID project is an homage to the ‘Anabada (conserve, share, exchange, reuse)’ movement, stemming from the belief that today in 2018, we are in dire need of the dignified and conscientious actions we had taken back then. Working on this first solo exhibition more than ever faithfully conscious of the fact that I am a member of a society and a person who designs, I employed each of the ‘conserve, share, exchange, reuse’ concepts in addressing my long contemplations on the environmental issues that we face in the everyday.”

‘WOULDA COULDA SHOULDA DID’

In 1997, South Korea fell into an economic crisis represented by the IMF bailout, which initiated a nation-wide movement of the “Anabada”. The Korean acronym for “conserve, share, exchange, reuse”, the Anabada movement conveyed the national will to overcome the financial crisis, for which the entire nation was willing to become one. Whereas the Anabada of the late 20th century was a “sharing economy” movement to overcome the immediate economic crisis, in 2018, Seungji Mun approaches the Anabada as an environmental movement.

“I still have clear memories of the Anabada movement from childhood. The memories serve as a persistent inspiration for my design.”

Twenty years since the Anabada movement, we now face various environmental issues including global warming and plastic waste. Mun takes a grave approach on such matters as a designer, addressing the environmental issues through his work.

Mun conveys his various stories and social messages through a firm design philosophy called “storism”. Not only does he design furniture and curate independent projects, he encompasses various realms including object, installation and spatial design, as he portrays a noteworthy trajectory of performance with meaningful results and a resolute sense of direction.

Mun’s representative project is his Four Brothers collection, a collaboration with the Swedish fashion brand COS. Producing four chairs out of one wooden plate with no loss of material, let alone one twig, the collection conveys his attitude toward environmental issues. Furthermore, as seen through the m.pup collection, he also produces furniture for pets, designing a life with animals.

“We always look to the worlds of art and design for inspiration and are fascinated by different approaches to function and form. Seungji Mun has long been a point of inspiration for us at COS – his ability to produce beautiful uncompromised design without creating production waste is a great example of innovation at the highest level.”

- Karin Gustafsson, COS Creative Director