"Companion Life and Art Tech... This Spring, Trends in Department Store Classes"

MZ Generation Enthusiastic About 'Art Tech' Featuring Pet and Home Drinking Culture
Increasing Online Courses and Utilizing Metaverse Platforms

Lotte Department Store Dongtan Branch, Lifestyle Lab.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Kim] Major department stores are introducing courses that capture trends targeting the spring semester. Notable courses include art investment (Art Tech), which has recently captivated the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), as well as classes reflecting pet culture and home drinking culture. Many online courses have also been prepared for the COVID-19 era.

Lotte Department Store will hold the "Spring Semester Culture Center" from March 2 to May 31. The overall theme of this spring semester culture center is "Melting Point." To welcome spring, various courses are offered under the themes of "spring when the ground melts," "pets that melt the heart," and "alcohol that melts the body."

Classes tailored to the recently spreading "Cottagecore" trend (seeking a simple natural life away from the complex city) centered on the MZ generation have been prepared. Representative courses include the "Macrobiotic Cooking Class" with Chef Lee Yoon-seo of "Ppuri on the Plate," who conducts cooking classes and workshops using seasonal agricultural products grown on our land. Macrobiotics refers to a healthy eating habit of consuming seasonal foods whole, from root to peel. There is also a "Cooking Class with Chef Yoo Hyun-soo," the first Michelin Korean cuisine chef. This course features seasonal menus using "Jeju Mureung Oegatjip’s agricultural and marine product packages."

In line with the consumption trend "Fam-Zam," which emerged as families spend more time at home due to COVID-19, courses related to "pet life" have been planned. The "Small Happiness Given by Bonsai" course by Kim Moon-geun, the first master of bonsai in the arts and culture field, is available. The "Dog Yoga & Dog Massage with Your Dog" course teaches dog yoga that can be easily followed at home, led by Yoon Jung-won, president of the Korea Dog Yoga Association.

Courses related to wine, whiskey, and traditional liquor are also introduced. The "Blind Wine Tasting Course at Wine Social Dosan" offers a time to focus solely on the taste of wine without information such as variety or origin in the tasting room of the wine complex cultural space "Wine Social," helping participants find their preferences. The "May Spring Seasonal Liquor Class," where recommended traditional liquors of May are enjoyed with various snacks at Bukchon’s "Traditional Liquor Gallery," is also prepared.

Shinsegae Department Store focused on "how to view artworks." Shinsegae Academy will significantly increase courses aimed at "Art Shumers (Art + Consumer)" customers who have a high interest in interior design and art purchases, matching the latest lifestyle demands for the spring semester.

Courses include "The Beginning of Art Tech, the Eye to Find Masterpieces," where you can hear the perspectives of experts who discover the world’s greatest masterpieces, "Practical Art Investment" for customers considering art investment, and "Master Painter Power Ranking for Art Investment." In addition to finance-related courses, humanities courses that help understand the flow of Western art history through art appreciation and works of famous artists are also offered. These include "ARTKEY Art Salon Vincent van Gogh," where the representative of an art exhibition platform explains the works and life of 19th-century Van Gogh, and "ARTKEY Art Salon London National Gallery," which explores Western art history through representative works carefully selected by a British professional docent.

Special courses reflecting interest in home interior design have also been prepared. This semester’s interior courses include separate Shinsegae Online Academy courses reflecting the non-face-to-face trend to increase customer accessibility. Registration for these courses is available from February 8. Representative courses include "Smart Interior to Gift a Special Space to Your Child," which teaches secrets to creating a special space within a budget of around 3 million KRW, "One-Point Lesson for Apartment Interior without Failure" for customers preparing to move or set up a new home, and "How to Wisely Renovate According to Your Taste."

Hyundai Department Store is accepting registrations for the "2022 Hyundai Culture Center Spring Semester" at 17 culture centers, including 16 department stores nationwide such as Apgujeong Main Store and Hyundai City Mall Garden Five. The spring season culture center theme, running from March 2 to the end of May, is "The Happiness of Immersion." Compared to last winter semester, offline courses have been increased by 20-30% per store.

They are introducing an online program "Happiness Challenge" that supports the formation of healthy lifestyle habits for the first time. This program helps customers find happiness in their favorite hobbies amid social distancing and pandemic fatigue as they start the new year. The "Exercise Routine" challenge, conducted online for 30 minutes during weekday lunch hours, helps build healthy exercise habits, and the "Reading Challenge," which encourages reading two books per month, are included.

Art-related courses, which have recently become a trend, have also been expanded about twice compared to last year. Various experiential programs will be offered, including lectures where participants visit artists’ studios to experience their lives and monthly exhibition viewing classes. A lecture introducing "NFT" technology, which has recently attracted great interest, will be conducted by "Doomin," Korea’s first AI collaborative artist.

Hyundai Department Store plans to increase the number of courses in the online culture center "Hyundai Department Store Culture Class," first launched in December 2020 through Naver’s lecture platform "eXpert," by more than 10%. At launch, the number of instructors was 14, which has been increased to about 50, and the number of courses expanded from about 80 to over 600.

AK Plaza has also begun recruiting members for the 2022 Culture Academy spring semester. It features various programs using the metaverse platform, which has recently gained popularity among Generation Z. They offer meta classes through SK Telecom’s metaverse service "ifland." The class "How Our Lives Change in the Metaverse Era," led by metaverse expert Professor Kim Sang-gyun of Kangwon National University, discusses changes and implications of life in the metaverse era within the meta class. AK Plaza’s signature classes such as "Properly Understanding Our Dog’s Signals" and "All About the Hot Art Tech Investment" can also be experienced as meta classes.

Programs with professional instructors from ARTX CAMPUS, a future-oriented convergence digital content specialized education service provider, have also been prepared. These programs include introductory metaverse courses such as "Roblox Game & Animation Production," "Creating My Own Space with Roblox," and "Generating Income by Creating Zepeto Items," as well as advanced courses leading to income generation. A "Metaverse Creator VOD Class" is also offered. In the VOD class, participants can learn various development and item creation using metaverse platforms like Roblox and Zepeto. The VOD class is available for one year from the start date. The spring semester runs from March 2 to May 31.

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