Above Studio Creates Large Christmas Tree 'Snow Pavilion' at Sewoon Sangga Byeolmadang Library

- Interview with Above Studio at Sewoon Makers Cube Introducing 'Snow Pavilion' at Starfield Byeolmadang Library

Through the regeneration and innovation of the urban industrial ecosystem, vitality is being restored to the Seun-Cheonggyecheon-Euljiro area, and to spread this throughout the city center, the ‘Dasi Seun Project’ is underway in the Seun Sangga area under the Seoul-style urban regeneration project.

In particular, Seun Makers Cube, a startup incubation space pursuing growth linked to the local urban manufacturing industry, as of January 2021, houses 17 youth startups and artist groups, contributing to the formation of a more diverse industrial ecosystem.

Among them, the design studio ‘Above Studio’ (hereinafter referred to as Above) was founded in 2017 and recently celebrated its 4th anniversary. Above was selected for ‘Seun Made’ and produced speakers, and also carried out projects such as the ‘Euljiro Industrial Illustrated Exhibition Planning’ and ‘DDP Open Curating.’

Notably, the Christmas tree presented by Above at the Starfield Library was a large ‘Snow Pavilion’ filled with sparkling snowflakes, with a total height of 11.6 meters and composed of 900 uniquely different snowflake lights. The Starfield Library collaborates annually with renowned artists to exhibit unique trees, and this year, Above was selected to create the Christmas tree.

Above Studio (CEO Jeon Chang-myeong), a 4-year-old youth company that participated in the open art contest held at the Starfield Library, joined the Starfield Library project after making revisions.

CEO Jeon Chang-myeong of Above said, “While carrying out this project, thanks to the technology of Seun Sangga and the support of the internal shop owners, we were able to complete it quickly and without problems,” adding, “Because we have worked together before, we were able to meet the completion date precisely despite the limited time.”

He continued, “The ‘Snow Pavilion’ expresses a message of hope through the tree to people struggling recently due to COVID-19,” and added, “The exhibition concept expresses the expectation of a white Christmas that Koreans have through design and technology.”

The Snow Pavilion consists of about 900 snowflakes forming the tree, and upon close inspection, each snowflake has a different shape. Like the process of snowflake formation, the concept expresses that people each have different environments and shine brightly within those environments.

CEO Jeon said, “The name ‘Above’ implies doing something beyond, and Seun Sangga is like a stepping stone for Above to grow further,” adding, “Seun is a place where everyone gathers inside the shopping complex, creating connectivity among workers. That connectivity is represented by Seun’s infrastructure, which works very advantageously for designers. Such infrastructure, networks, technology, and people must exist in this space to have meaning. This embodies why Seun Sangga must be located in the heart of Seoul’s city center.”

Meanwhile, Above Studio’s Snow Pavilion, which presents 900 uniquely different snowflakes filled with hope amid COVID-19, portrays another aspect of Seun Sangga, which can feel unfamiliar and rigid as an old building from a distance. Even today, many technicians, entrepreneurs, merchants, and various stakeholders gather at Seun Sangga, connecting diverse stories and businesses.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.