Hyundai Livart Unveils Extensive Furniture Collection Collaborating with Global Artists

Hyundai Livart's Hypernature cabinet featuring media art by Universal Everything (UE).

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Hyundai Livart is set to unveil a large collection of designer furniture created in collaboration with global artists. By applying artistic techniques to furniture and showcasing designs specialized in color, Hyundai Livart aims to lead domestic furniture market trends based on its differentiated design and manufacturing competitiveness.

Hyundai Livart announced on the 21st that it will launch a furniture collection produced through the global artist collaboration project ‘Art&DesignProject 2022’ and hold a pop-up store on the 4th floor of The Hyundai Seoul from the 22nd of this month until July 18.

Seven influential global artists and designers from overseas countries including the UK, Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Finland, and Switzerland participated to create artist-specific furniture collections such as sofas, beds, and tables. The total consists of 22 types, with product design handled by overseas artists and planning, production, and sales managed by Hyundai Livart. The Art&DesignProject 2022 is a project that collaborates with artists such as highly regarded overseas artists and designers to present uniquely designed furniture.

Hyundai Livart’s engagement in this global artist collaboration project is part of its company-wide ‘brand premiumization strategy.’ A Hyundai Livart official explained, “By collaborating with experts in the new field of art, we have upgraded furniture design with bold attempts never seen in conventional furniture.” To this end, Hyundai Livart established a dedicated department called ‘Creative Lab’ in 2020 and has been preparing the global artist collaboration project for about two years. The Creative Lab is composed of about 20 furniture development experts from various fields including furniture designers, engineers, production specialists, and MDs.

A representative collection of this project is ‘Furniture in Motion,’ created in collaboration with the UK-based media artist group ‘Universal Everything’ (UE), notable for being the first domestic brand furniture to apply ‘media art’ to furniture. The company explained that by using a ‘lenticular lens’ that creates an optical illusion depending on the viewing angle, the media art works applied to the front of the furniture appear to move without any power supply. Fifteen types of furniture decorated with media art works such as ‘Floral’ and ‘Palms,’ including tables and cabinets, will be sold as limited editions of 100 units each. Notably, this is Universal Everything’s first collaboration on furniture design; previously, they have worked on media art directing for the 2012 London Olympics and collaborated with global companies such as Hyundai Motor, Apple, and Nike.

Hyundai Livart will also introduce designer furniture emphasizing bold colors. The ‘Inner Lives’ collection, created in collaboration with the UK architectural and interior design firm ‘Abe Rogers Design’ (ARD), features designs that skillfully combine colors on solid wood furniture using various artistic techniques. The collection highlights balance by combining blue and white colors equally or maximizes contrast effects by finishing the exterior of furniture in solid wood while using bright pastel colors such as pink and green inside. Four types including sofas, dressing tables, and wine cabinets will be showcased. A Hyundai Livart official said, “Following the development of our own color manual ‘Livart Color Palette’ with Abe Rogers Design (ARD) last year, we continue design collaborations including furniture production,” adding, “We plan to continue introducing designer furniture emphasizing various colors reflecting customer feedback.”

Hyundai Livart also plans to actively capture customer demand interested in unique designer furniture. First, from the 22nd of this month to July 18, it will open a pop-up store on the 4th floor of The Hyundai Seoul to showcase the ‘Art&DesignProject 2022’ collection. Starting with this, the Art&DesignProject 2022 collection pop-up stores will be sequentially operated at major department stores such as Pangyo and Trade Center stores within this year. Additionally, the collection will be exhibited at major offline stores including flagship stores like ‘Livart Total Gangnam.’ Lee Wanho, team leader of Hyundai Livart’s Creative Lab, said, “Starting with the Art&DesignProject 2022 collection, we plan to continue collaborations not only with overseas but also domestic artists,” and added, “We will persist in bold experiments that change the landscape of the domestic furniture market through various attempts.”

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