Seoul's design has long been recognized for its excellence around the world.
Seoul was selected as the ‘World Design Capital (WDC)’ in 2010, and in July of that year, it was designated as the first city in Korea and the 8th city in the world to be designated as the UNESCO Creative City of Design. Seoul has established itself as a representative design city by exchanging with major cities in the world, and the Seoul Design Foundation is at the center of it.

Established in 2008 to improve the quality of life of citizens, the foundation is carrying out various projects to spread the design culture and promote the design industry.

In 2014, we opened DDP (Dongdaemun Design Plaza) and together with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, we have fostered DDP as a global design platform. DDP was selected as one of the ‘must-see attractions’ by the <New York Times> in 2015, and has become a representative landmark of Seoul, a design city visited by more than 10 million tourists a year.

The Foundation is preparing for another leap forward. Based on the ‘Seoul Vision 2030’ announced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in September 2021, we will make DDP a hub for the future emotional city that leads the world design trend. To this end, we are carrying out the ‘Design larchiveum’ project, which combines the functions of a library, archives, and museum. With this project, citizens can always experience and enjoy new designs at DDP, raising K Design's status in the global market and expanding design sales opportunities.

We will continue to focus our efforts on discovering and accumulating our own design content. We will devote ourselves with a sense of duty and responsibility so that we can play a part in making Seoul one of the top 5 attractive cities in the world.

Thank you.
Rhee Kyung-don, CEO of Seoul Design Foundation