Seoul cafes provide a cozy alternative to chain store coffee
Duxieme in Sinsa-dong. [JoongAng Ilbo]
Across town, cafes in Hongdae, Dosan Park and Samcheong-dong also attract crowds of shoppers and nearby office workers. There is one thing these booming cafes all have in common: They look just like your home.
“I wanted to make a space where I could breathe and show who I am,” says Joo Eun-sil, the 35-year-old owner of Duxieme, a cafe near Dosan Park that is designed to look like a living-room and kitchen.
A book that put together a list of Seoul’s trendy cafes has also recently come out.
Aloo in Apgujeongdong.
Browsing through the book and visiting the cafes makes visitors feel like they are looking at or have been invited to their friends’ homes.
Cafes have been around in Korea since the mid-1990s. Later they were overshadowed by takeout coffee chains like Starbucks and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Now sit-in cafes have been revived within the past year.
“Trendsetters like designers, writers and PR people simply love cafes,” says Kim Yun-seon, an editor of Hip Cafe. “It’s not a passing trend. It feels like cafes have really settled in our culture.”
Miel, which opened in Cheongdam-dong about a year ago, is a gallery cafe.
The interior feels familiar and comfortable. Miel has created a warm and cozy atmosphere using vintage-style furniture.
And mk2, a cafe opened by photographer Lee Jong-myeong last year in Hyoja-dong, does the same. The place is full of vintage collectibles that Lee bought on his travels to Europe including an Eames lounge chair and a floor lamp by an Italian designer.
Other designer-made items can be purchased at the cafe.
Many cafes are unique because they mix and match. From tables to chairs and accessories, the designs never come in pairs.
Mansion on Garosu-gil and Aloo in Sinsa-dong show how mixing and matching can enlighten the atmosphere.
Mansion, which was originally opened as a studio-cafe by two interior designers, a living stylist and a florist, boasts a gray wall finished with exposed concrete with vintage-style furniture.
The cafe is full of souvenirs and accessories that touch on the age of analog, including a film camera, rotary phone and radios.
The owners have added curtains in vivid floral patterns and toys with a touch of kitsch. The flower shop at the far end of the cafe adds an eclectic balance.
Aloo, a second cafe run by Paper Garden in Apgujeong-dong, is also designed in the vintage style. A deer’s head mounted on the wall adds a natural feel.
By Shin Hye-won JoongAng Ilbo [myfeast@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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