Saymechoi portfolio 2015 issuu ver. by Sayme Choi

Sayme, sayme! SAYME’ S PERSONAL PORTFOLIO

HI THERE I’m Sayme, a Korean designer based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Hands are more excellent and perfect tools than any other tools human ever made. People say that my hands which are always covered by paint are ugly. However for me, the hands are my wellprepared perfect tools. Since my hands apparently become rough after every year, my hands have actually developed as more useful hands. I’ve always studied and enjoyed the structures and new materials. In particular, structure can make a piece of paper as a chair sustaining the weight of human. Beautiful and smart structure can be the best element of aesthetics rather than superficial shapes and colors.

IKEA? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m KoEAn! Autonomous Transit System on the uniform and appointed MAP Street Culture? What is the true circulation for the nature?

Safe Disposal of Medicines

- Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m Korean 6p

personal project

- Autonomous Transportation 20p

personal project

- on stage 26p

team project

- 36x36x400 series 34p

personal project

- the legs 40p

personal project

- smart envelope 44p

team project

- chair: origami 52p

personal project

- hub bench 56p

personal project

- grawing light 60p

personal project

cv & personal info. 64p

CULTURE IN THE PLURAL At home in a globalised culture Due to mass consumer culture and globalisation, the Korean residential housing landscape has been rapidly filled with Westernised households since the 1980s. Alongside the structure and appearance of their houses, Koreansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; lifestyles and habits have changed. They have become relegated to mere consumers, representative of the fastchanging commoditised Western culture. However, their behaviour cannot be reduced to a single, unified â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;consumer tasteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; as created by the global market.

To be victimized or to take the lead It has been rumored that IKEA will be introduced to the Korean market. Notably, even before the entry of the IKEA brand into the Korean market, IKEA furniture imported through the purchasing agent services have become commonplace among the ‘chic’ ‘trendy’ young people willing to pay more. This furniture behemoth, IKEA, will officially tap into the Korean market. Korean consumers welcome IKEA more enthusiastically than others do. However, domestic furniture companies have great challenges to prepare for the competition from the furniture giant IKEA. Many experts are scrambling to provide solutions and analyze the preceding cases of Asian countries, such as China or Japan, to help cope with the imminent catastrophic changes in the Korean furniture market. However, the researcher, as a Korean, has a real fear, going beyond the status of a designer; this is to do with Korean culture vanishing amidst the wave of globalization. Korea has undergone many changes, as the surge in the adoption of Western culture has been unleashed. Despite the recent efforts to recover tradition, there is still the prevailing belief among the people that westernization is synonymous with better (developed) conditions. Such beliefs may be attributable to the fact that the economic development in Korea began with westernization. The noticeable economic strides of Korea have also led to the consumption-oriented lives and cultural capitalism in the society. The entry of IKEA into the Korean market will further jeopardize the domestic furniture market. IKEA penetrates deeply into Korean families, and subsequent westernized life will trigger the crisis that may change the DNA of Koreans entirely. To prevent that, Korean consumers need to change. They need to develop the ability to protect and maintain their lifestyles and culture, to distinguish theirs from others without being blinded by the lure of superficial branding. That is because IKEA is not the only multinational global company threatening the minor cultures and indigenous cultures in markets around the globe.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

Apartments in Korea Today, apartments can be considered the representative houses in Korea. The apartments in Korea go beyond the concept of joint housing where a few households are gathered together. Instead, an apartment complex comprises two households on one floor, and ten 20-story high buildings. ‘Parkrio’Apartment Complex in Seoul, known as the largest apartment complex in Korea, includes 6,864 households and 9,486 cars can be parked, all at the same time. When the average number of family members is factored in, this means that about 19,500 people are living in this complex. 6,864 households divide into ten categories depending on size and structure. That is, there are only ten choices for 19,500 people. As the living space became commercialized, standardization, specification, and repetitive layout, for the sake of building efficiency, gave birth to the apartments that we see today. Houses are mass-produced, and they are commercialized via advertisements and model homes. People consume apartments, mesmerized by the images created in the brochures, but they are in fact forcing themselves into living the repetition of ‘copy and paste’. 9

01 <I’m KOREAN> Personal Project

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

Mutation created from Copy and Paste Repetition I visited six households in an apartment complex that are all shaped the same, although they are on different floors, to record their everyday life. It is the photograph that I took of the kitchen after passing through the living room, using the same angle at the same place. While glimpsing into their life amidst a structure that matches perfectly, I was able to find unexpected interesting points. Their effort to mitigate the gap between the apartment structure, that does not form perfect harmony with their Korean everyday life, and the stand-up furniture visible. They embraced the westernized space and furniture, albeit to varying degrees, with an active and critical attitude. That implies they actually became the sovereign subjects of minor culture in the course of the acculturation process involving the confluence of more than two different cultures, as referred to above. 11

01 <Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m KOREAN> Personal Project

I’m KOREAN

LAKE KOREAN low table 2014 W:550 L:750 H:380

ALBERT KOREAN storage 2014 W:275 L:1600 H:630

FJELLSE KOREAN lounge bench 2014 W:960 L:2060 H:320

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

01 <I’m KOREAN> Personal Project

<I’m KOREAN> is the brand selling additional assembling part for IKEA product. IKEA has been reinvented by <I’m KOREAN> based on ordinary Korean domestic culture.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

LAKE

Korean Low Table

01 <I’m KOREAN> Personal Project

ALBERT

Stationery chest [mungap]

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

FJELLSE

Wooden floor [ma: ru]

01 <I’m KOREAN> Person. Project

Magazine <Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m KOREAN _ vol. 1,2,3> The magazine <Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m KOREAN> is devoted to Korean domestic household which is revolving every substantive and original Korean lifestyle. The westernization of the Korean mass media makes people deny themselves and their culture, which makes them eager for western cuture more and more. As a result, people keep consuming western culture which is not particularly adaptable to their lifestyle. This magazine aims to make people face their actual reflection, instead of subverting themselves.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

01 <I’m KOREAN> Person. Project

ROAD

TRANSPORTATION

AUTONOMOUS

Autonomous Transit System on the uniform and appointed MA

A EINDHOVEN

UNIFORM

MAP

APPOINTED

Autonomous Transit System on the uniform and appointed MAP This transportation system is aiming at finding Spontaneous and Autonomous Transit System on the uniform and appointed MAP. There are four different transportation in Eindhoven : BUS, TAXI, CAR and BIKE. Bus and taxi are public and car and bike are individual transportation. They all have different form. However, they all employ common MAP, which is uniform, planned, formal and appointed. These concepts are contrary to Autonomy.Besides, the MAP potentially should restrain our Autonomous movement.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

<Autonomous Transportation system> Personal Project

Autonomous Transportation System A project <Autonomous Transportation system> has participated in <Mobilotoop> Mobilotoop is the first cross-over project of Design Platform Vlaanderen. It is a research project that focuses on potential connections between people, vehicles, places and services that as a whole generate numerous new mobility solutions for all. Connections that will not only bring us faster but also closer to one another.

USELESS GPS DATA

USEFUL GPS DATA

AUTONOMOUS TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

http://goo.gl/r30dPP

<Autonomous Transportation System> Personal Project

Various people and culture coexists in modern urbanization streets. Among them, people who perform in the street called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Street musicianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and it reaches a population of 16 thousand out in

STREET CULTURE

the world. The size and the quality of the street performance have grown compared to past while the system and the device have not kept the pace with the scale yet.

amount of street performance amount of surpporting system

ON-STAGE <ON-STAGE> folding chair 2011 W:388 L:388 H:360

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

a part of proceeds is donated

SUPPLY CHAIN

can make better performance

03 <ON-STAGE> Team Project

On stage is the best portable stool which is able to fold and unfold to take on stage with them to make the stage wherever you are. Also, although the On stage takes space as a stool, it can be flat when unfolded. The unique character of On stage can be utilized to expand the scope of use to outdoor and indoor furniture. The materials are paper, pp, felt, wood, etc and each of them is available for variety use such as outdoor, indoor, for short periods and for long periods. Basically, the brand â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;on stageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cheers and supports the street performance.

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03 <ON-STAGE> Team Project

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

>> A VARIETY OF WAYS TO ENJOY THE ON-STAGE

To the audiences: It can be a stool or mat in the street performance or music festival where there are no specific seats. On stage network makes people to enjoy street culture more efficiently by providing the information of the inaccurate time and place of the street performances at a glance.

To musicians: On stage stool with special identity is given to the selected street musicians. The database of the musicians who are sharing the identity of onstage is shared on the web and the audiences who know the place and time of their performances can enjoy the organized street performance more easily.

03 <ON-STAGE> Team Project

WHAT IS THE TRUE CIRCULATION

How many resources could be used entirely. However, the problem is the too much use of the trees. According to the Korea Wood Recycling Association data showed 5,115,000 tons of woods are wasted per year and only 1.837 million tons of woods are recycled showing the rate of 36%. This means, 3,278,000 tons of the woods are used once and wasted. In the flood of the Eco-friendly, eco-friendly products, Green design, we have to rethink about how to practice the Green. I defined the true meaning of eco-design as ‘Using Less’ rather than ‘recycle’.

FOR THE NATURE?

IDEAL CYCLE

36x36x400 series <36x 36x 400x 11> chair 2009/2010 W:470 L:470 H:710 <36x 36x 400x 4> floor lamp 2010 W:282 L:282 H:1500

36x36 400

In the flood of the Eco-friendly, eco-friendly products, Green design, we have to rethink about how to practice the Green. I defined the true meaning of eco-design as ‘Using Less’ rather than ‘recycle’. 36x36x400 series is the chair and the light that can be made of 36mm of horizontal and vertical and 400mm length of the timber with cut out 1.2t plate. 36x36x400 series is designed to ideally utilize the wood as the recycled resource. The chair can be made by adding steel plate Eco JOINT to the wood which is a raw material. In contrast, it is back into the raw material by taking out of the Eco JOINT. This would be the true circulation for the nature.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

04 <36x 36x 400 series> Person. Project

W:36 L:36 H:400

= =

1.2mm thick steel plate connects the 36x36x400mm size of lumber. The folding method by stitch makes it possible to fold directly without any special bending method.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

W:36 L:36 H:400

To avoid wasting other resources, the exist-

Wood does not need post-processing like bend-

36x36x400 series is the chair and the light that

ing 36x36mm standard lumber was used. Each

ing or painting in the production process. This

is possibly made of 36mm of horizontal and ver-

wood plays a role of the frame of the furniture,

simplifies the process to reduce energy con-

tical and 400mm length of the timber with cut

and the folded 1.2t steel plate connects the

sumption. Moreover, the wood not for post-

out 1.2t plate.

frame to complete the structure.

process in the disposal process can be reused when making another 36x36x400 series. This

36x36x400 series is designed to ideally utilize

process is simpler compared to the post-pro-

the wood as the recycled resource. The raw ma-

cessed waste woods when they are recycled for

terial of lumber added with the Eco JOINT made

PB or MDF which are made from waste woods. .

by the steel plate becomes a chair. In contrast, it is back into the raw material by taking out of the Eco JOINT. This would be the true circulation for the nature.

36x36x400 series

36x36x400

x11

36x36x400

04 <36x 36x 400 series> Person. Project

36x36x400 series <The LEGS> stool 2010 W:300 L:300 H:420

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

â&#x20AC;&#x153; I wish I could give you something but I have nothing left to give, I am just an old stump.

â&#x20AC;? <The Giving Tree>

05 <The LEGS > Person. Project

1__ Wasted furniture with legs received from the garbage dump. The appearance has been torn but the original material wood is still solid.

2__ Drawing of chair seat to be made by laser cutting. This single-piece chair seat also holds the legs. PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

3__Two stools are made by assembling each leg of the broken chairs in the picture 1. The material of the chair seat is steel plate, and the folding area is bent by stitch.

4__ Since the side angles of the chair seat which hold legs are all different, it is like trapezoid shape. The thickness of each leg is all different.

05 <The LEGS > Person. Project

PUT A CHECK MARK IN THE BEST DESCRIBES WHEN YOU DUMP EXPIRED DRUGS.

etc.

SMART ENVELOPE <SMART ENVELOPE> pharmacy bag 2010

How do you dump the expired drugs? If the expired drugs are flushed down in the toilet, or thrown in to a garbage bag, the ingredients of the drug flow into the soil and water which affect environment ecosystem and people. To safely discard the expired drugs, put the drugs that are no longer needed or expired into the â&#x20AC;&#x153;smart envelopeâ&#x20AC;? and put them into the mailbox to send them to the high temperature incinerator. This way simplifies the existing process of expired drug incineration and lessens the cost as well as reducing the adverse effect on the environment and people.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

06 <SMART ENVELOPE> Team Project

> Problems Caused by Expired Drugs

>> How Peaple Deal With Expired Drugs Only 1.4% of expired drugs is collected.

A Health Hazard Dissolved medicine compounds in the water have a great influence on eco system.

An Environmental Hazard

87% of people

Exposure to medicine in water has been linked to serious reproductive side effects.

do not realize the problems.

I have no idea

A Danger to Children and Pets

Expected

Children and pets can accidentally get poisoned by unused prescription medicine found in the home.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

I knew

> Inform Everyone About The Problems > Improvement of Practice Rate

? 06 <SMART ENVELOPE> Team Project

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

BUY

TAKE

06 <SMART ENVELOPE> Team Project

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

chair: ORIGAMI <chair: ORIGAMI> chair 2011 W:750 L:470 H:840

This chair is made of flexible plastic sheet that you can be fold like an origami. Structure can make paper as a chair sustaining the weight of human, and thin iron reinforcing bars can become world class high-rise buildings with structure. Since structure is too familiar from our childhood or in our daily lives, we just cannot recognize it. I began to study the structure again, and designed a chair for human based on the structure.

07 <chair: ORIGAMI> Person. Project

THE STUDY OF ORIGAMI

1st MODEL

>>>

2nd MODEL

>>>>FINAL MODEL

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07 <chair: ORIGAMI> Person. Project ⑦

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PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

HUB BENCH <HUB BENCH> bench 2009 W:900 L:260 H:450 <HUB STOOL> stool 2009 W:375 L:260 H:450

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the status of your room?

The electrical energy is integral to the modern people who live through it which even make them to give up the wall for the wires and outlets. Is it impossible for them to be beautiful, not be hidden as possible? HUB Bench provides the space which keeps the multi-tab while sitting. HUB Bench is available in any places that requires multi-tap and the tangled wires are transformed into other objet with this bench.

08 <HUB BENCH> Person. Project

I have chosen the knock down method in this project under the theme of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the objectified laser cutting method using 6mm thick of MDFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This method is also called Ready-to-assemble and this is to use the unfinished part to completely assemble. None of the glue or screw were used and fully structured of the 6mm MDF pieces were designed to be able to withstand a lot of load. MDF ended with luminous pigment produces light in the dark.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

http://youtu.be/uRm5fVEOqeg

08 <HUB BENCH> Person. Project

GROWING LIGHT LAMP 2009 W:38 L:38 H:230

Pour Water, Grow Light Water is the source of all creatures. The theory that there was the water in the beginning of the world and various worlds came from is found in many forms of the ancient and primitive theories on the creation of the universe. In that way, the light emitted from the flower does not simply mean that the lamp is on. Rather, it symbolizes the vitality of life that comes from the water.

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

COVER

LED BULD

MERCURY CELL

Mercury cell and LED bulb are installed on the top side of the flower. The cathode wire connects the mercury battery and LED, while the anode wire hangs down the stalk without

WIRE

being connected. So, the electricity flows through the water, the conductive material, in the anode wire which is not connected, if the water is poured into the Grow Light. 61

09 <Growing Light> Person. Project

PERSONAL PORTFOLIO l SAYME CHOI

http://youtu.be/fAuKYxp97fo

09 <Growing Light> Person. Project

Contact Info. Sayme Choi (Saemi choi) The Netherlands/ South Korea +31 (0)6 42 33 09 30 +82 (0)51 939 1141 saymechoi@gmail.com www.saymechoi.com

I am Sayme Choi and I can define myself as an observer. Ordinary lives are reinterpreted by the observer who has new perspective. Such things become naturally embodied and are incorporated into designing works. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Distancingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is the most important aspect in observation. When the form is observed externally of the object of observation, the essential forms become visualized, going beyond superficiality. My life was always been accompanied by more than one culture since my working area was relocated from Korea to the Netherlands. As a result, the everyday life which seemed ordinary previously, began to look ordinary no more. These everyday lives have become the area of my design exploration. That is why the need to maintain myself has become de-territorialized in the boundaries between Korea and the Netherlands.

1987 Born in Busan, South Korea Education 2012-2014 Master of Design, Design Academy Eindhoven, NL 2006-2011 Bachelor of Industrial Design, Seoul National University of Technology, KR

Exhibitions/ Awerds/ Experience 2013 Mobilotoop, C-mine, Genk, BE 2011 folding: The Art of Simplicity, KCDF, Seoul, KR 2011 Incheon International Design Fair, KR 2008 internship, Studio Cube, Seoul, KR Additional Information Wood, metal, pencil drawing and Photography, Shooting and editing Rhinos, 3DMAX, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, AutoCAD