Swedish home cooking thrives at Hemlagat

Walking into Hemlagat is like a gentle embrace, warm and welcoming. Swedish folk art touches dot the walls, and the wood surfaces that make up most of the interior space gleam happily. If ever a restaurant looked happy to see its patrons, Hemlagat is it.

It’s a reflection of the attitude of its owners, husband and wife team of Chef Daniel Wikstrand and Soojin Oh, who started the restaurant a few years ago when they moved to Korea to be closer to Oh’s family after a globe-trotting romance.

Finding the fun, together

“We met in China and lived there for 10 years. For five years, we operated a café together. When we were newlyweds, we worked corporate jobs and had no time together. We decided to quit so that we could spend more time together. Some people were really worried about us, but we love being together 24 hours a day!” Oh explains, telling the story of how they moved from being burned-out professionals who met taking language classes in China to a husband-wife restaurant team. “For his first birthday together, I gave Daniel an oven, since his hobby was cooking. I liked coffee and he liked cooking, so we decided to start a café.”

True to its name, meaning “home cooking,” the small, cozy restaurant brings the Swedish foods of Daniel’s family and homeland to Seoul, but also with an eye to what will appeal to local tastes. While not trained as a professional chef, Wikstrand’s firm vision and talents have created a wonderfully flavorful and beautiful menu of Swedish favorites, while Oh’s resourcefulness has turned ideas into reality. All the usual suspects appear, including meatballs and pickled herring, but also exciting dishes like wild game and a schnapps-laden cheese.

Swedish food for the Seoulite

“We never change our recipes to ‘Koreanize’ them,” insists Wikstrand, “but we do pick Swedish foods that have some similarities to Korean foods. Korean customers tell us they feel at home here because of the flavors, the smoking and the pickling. They don’t feel foreign even though it is a foreign restaurant. You have to see how the same flavors fit in the Korean palate. At the same time, we are really strong on not making adaptations. At first, people wanted kimchi, etc., but we are a Swedish restaurant, just in Seoul.”

Oh notes, “For me, it’s so similar to Korean foods. Nature isn’t so good, so it’s about getting the maximum from the ingredients, getting through the winter. We both like to pickle things, salt things.”

Hemlagat is serious about its pickling process, necessary to create the many varieties of traditional herring dishes that appear on the menu, including mustard and dill, and sour cream. “In Sweden, you can go ahead and order the herring pre-salted so you can flavor it any way you want. But we had so many problems sourcing good herring here! We spend two weeks salting them for the base, then a week or so marinating so it takes about three weeks total,” says Wikstrand. “We have three kinds per platter, and they vary by season. It’s all about the herbs and vegetables — onions, scallions, carrot, allspice, clove, white pepper and carraway.” The devotion to the process results in a deeply satisfying array of fish that brings to mind the Korean winter delicacy of gwamegi, a rich, chewy dish of half-dried herring.

Game for new flavors and old ideas

Just as bold but a little bit more off the beaten path is Hemlagat’s elk dish, served with Hasselback potatoes, mushroom cream sauce and cranberry sauce, a bit of a risk in Korea where game meats aren’t popularized yet. It took more than two years to source the elk, but the resulting dish is deeply satisfying, with crispy potatoes and creamy mushrooms playing foil to the strong, rich flavors of the elk meat. It’s the kind of traditional family fare Wikstrand and Oh want to share, bringing their love of tradition and family to the fore.

Not every dish is so straightforward though. One of the menu’s lighter delights is made from chopped cheese and came from a vintage recipe book.

“My parents found this Swedish cookbook from the 1950s by the Swedish version of Gordon Ramsey. He had a dish for leftover cheese by mixing it with herbs and schnapps. We said, ‘We have to try it!’ It works!” Wikstrand exclaimed. Served with crispy pork skins and house-made bread rich with different grains, the cheese dish packs a punch, with pungent cheese and bracing schnapps forming the perfect partner with the wholesome bread and brilliant snap of the pork rinds flavored with caraway and salt.

The perfect end to the meal is a slow sip from one of their thirty varieties of house-flavored schnapps, ranging from fruity to herbal to spicy. But however the meal ends, Oh and Wikstrand want people to walk away with a sense of how important tradition and family are: “For us, that’s what this is all about. Traditional and home cooked, true to our name. That’s the whole thing. Quality of life.”

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Hemlagat

#123 Namsan Lotte Castle 35 Sogong-ro, Jung-gu

02-318-3335

Reservations strongly recommended

Written by Jennifer Flinn
Photographed by Noe Alonzo

Chef Hwa-young Lee practically embodies sugar, spice and everything nice — not surprising, considering her job is turning out impeccable cakes for not one but two dessert cafés. Along with her husband and childhood sweetheart, Seung Ki Jung, Lee’s turned her talent and passion for sweets into a mini-empire of sugar, starting with their first café, Little & Much, and now with A Lot, in Samgakji.

“I was studying design at university in Vancouver, Canada, but then my husband and I started to study pastry together when we started thinking about making a plan to return to Korea,” recalls Lee. We didn’t know anything, so we just went ahead and started!”
“Originally, baking was just going to be a hobby, but my husband wanted to start a restaurant. When we got back, there were already a lot of places selling cakes, but we wanted to make a special kind and so we decided to concentrate on mousse cakes. We didn’t even realize how rare they were here in Korea. Now there’s a lot, but when we first started, most people thought they were really different. People were more used to Japanese-style desserts.”

Making the mousse of it

The cakes are indeed something special, managing to be simultaneously light and rich, creamy but delicate. But with the opening of their second dessert café, A Lot, Lee aimed for something a little bit different and came up with a significantly expanded menu that includes a wide range of small cakes and cookies, as well as some extraordinary smoothies. Buttery sable cookies, fudgy brownies and lemony pound cakes hold court alongside decadent drinks like speculoos and rose smoothies. They’re not just sweet in terms of taste. Even the presentation aims to be sweet and charming, with flower petal decorations and heart-shaped straws.

“There’s a particular character here at Little & Much that I wanted to keep, so we decided to make our a lot more casual in style, and more experimental. I can do things there that I wouldn’t do here. Here at Little & Much, we keep things very simple and concentrate on mousse cakes. A Lot is full of cookies and smoothies so people can relax and enjoy a drink or a small thing. There are more choices, so you can eat a bit more light, a bit more simply. We’re also developing things like scones,” says Lee.

Making a lot from little

The sleek, more modern design of A Lot contrasts with the more traditional but still contemporary feel of Little & Much, with pops of bold color and simple seating that feel playful and fun. While Little & Much is a restful, warm spot for lingering over Lee’s gorgeously designed and layered cakes, A Lot encourages trying out a wider variety of simpler cookies, giving room for play across the palate in several different forms, rather than ensconced in one of their multi-layered mouse cakes. The smoothies, too, feel light-hearted and fun, despite their caloric heft. The flavors are never simple or one note, though. Coconut flour sneaks in instead of wheat, giving a financier a subtle flavor of the tropics, or a savory hint of nut and spice livens up a cookie. In a rose-flavored smoothie, raspberry and lychee manage to make the drink taste both exactly like a rose but also fruity, floral and complex.

Like a philosophy based on sugar rather than Socrates, Lee thinks deeply about each dessert and each design, whether it’s a café or a cake, seeing them both as the same kind of task and endowed with deeper meaning. “When I create a dessert,” says Lee, “it’s like designing. How should it be layered? How should it be colored? How will people perceive it? What texture should it be? Individual cakes can seem so much prettier and more special, because they’re just for one person. I think people like it because there’s not that many things like it that we can have all just to ourselves.”

“This way,” she smiles, “people can get rid of their stress through sweets.”

More Info

A Lot

B103, BF1 Amorepacific, 100 Hangang-daero 100, Yongsan-gu

02-6367-1023, www.instagram.com/alotbylnm/

Written by Jennifer Flinn
Photographed by Romain John

Mike Testwuide has a unique profile. He is an American-born Korean ice hockey player whose name is among the 25 athletes in the South Korean men’s hockey team for the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

A natural-born hockey talent from Colorado, Testwuide is now stationed in the new Korean Olympic training center in Jincheon, located about 100 kilometers south from Seoul, to train as an Olympic hockey player.

“Being at this facility allows us to completely focus on training without distractions. Basically, it’s eat, sleep, hockey … repeat. Three of my favorite things,” Testwuide says just three weeks prior to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

Becoming a Korean

Hockey has been the love of Testwuide’s life since the age of eight, when he played the sport for the first time. The sport led him to venture abroad to the country in which he had never imagined living. The former American Hockey League star joined Anyang Halla, a Korean professional hockey team in 2013. The 30-year-old hockey player, now playing for another Korean team, High 1, hadn’t even known there was a hockey league here.

Coming to Korea, however, turned out to be one of his best decisions. “It has revived my love for hockey and has given me the experience of a lifetime,” he says. Life in Korea began as an unexpected turn but has opened up a new chance to participate in the Olympics for the first time.

Soon after he joined Anyang Halla, he met Jim Paek, a former NHL defenseman who was appointed to coach the Korean national men’s team. Paek suggested that Testwuide consider becoming a Korean citizen so that he could play for the Olympic team.

Testwuide had concerns with possible negative views he would get from the U.S. and Korea. He faced questions from people in both who wondered why he’d want to play for another country.

But he saw no borders in hockey and soon began studying for the naturalization exam, learning Korean history and practicing singing the Korean national anthem. He earned Korean citizenship and joined the Korean national hockey team in 2015. He currently holds dual citizenships in the U.S. and Korea.

Learning new culture

Life in Korea has given him a unique chance to experience a new lifestyle as well. Testwuide learned to love a culture he wasn’t familiar with.

“I’m addicted to Korean food and I love how social everything in this country is,” he says. “From coffee shops on every corner, to the abundance of restaurants, to the bar and club scene, you can always be hanging out with friends and having a great time.”

He still travels back and forth between Colorado and Seoul. He spends the off-season from April to August in Vail and the rest of the year in Ilsan, where he is currently based. “My hometown in Vail, Colorado, and Seoul are maybe two of the most different places on earth so I get a great balance of lifestyles,” he says. “Seoul satisfies my craving for city life while Vail satisfies my love of the outdoors.”

Athletic prowess

Testwuide thinks his Korean name, Kang Tae-san, best reflects his identity as a hockey player. He was given the name by Anyang Halla fans who came up with several Korean names for foreign players at the team.

“I chose Kang Tae-san, meaning ‘big strong mountain.’ I believe it suits who I am, where I’m from, and how I play hockey,” he says. “I am one of the biggest guys on the team and I play a strong style. I am also from the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. The name seemed fitting to me.”

Testwuide’s strong physique, childhood training as a ski racer and an eye for strategy qualify him to be a solid forward whose main responsibility is to score goals and lead the team for a win.

Building the strongest Olympic team

Since he and six Canadian players joined the Korean men’s ice hockey team, the national squad has shown remarkable results in international games. The team was promoted to the upper-level competition for the first time in 2017 at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championship. Previously, it had played in lower divisions, suffering five losses in 2014. The team’s world ranking has surged to 21st, the highest since the men’s hockey team was established in the 1970s.

The Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang are the first for both Testwuide and Korea. The country gets an automatic entry in the Olympic Games as a host country. Testwuide stresses, however, that the result is also the fruition of the hard work and dedication of the Korean team over the past five years.

He says, “We have prepared for this for a really long time and we couldn’t be more excited that the time is finally here. Getting to play on the world stage is truly a dream come true.”

The Korean women’s hockey team has also received unprecedented attention, but for another reason. South and North Korea have agreed to create a joint women’s ice hockey team. Testwuide admits he has mixed feelings about the recent decision.

“We get to see the women’s team on a regular basis and know how tight they are as a team. They have worked very hard to get where they are and I know they want to play as a South Korean team,” he says. “I also think it is a bit unfair that it is happening only a few weeks from the games. On the contrary, I think it is an amazing opportunity for the relationship to continue in the right direction between the two nations. I want to wish them good luck and can’t wait to watch them on the ice.”

Testwuide feels confident about his hockey and his team more than ever.

“I believe I am playing some of the best hockey of my life right now,” he says.

The Korean team is scheduled to compete with some of the strongest contenders in ice hockey such as the Czech Republic, Switzerland and Canada in the Olympics in February.

“We are going into the Olympics with a winning mindset. We are a confident team and know that we can play with the best in the world. We will most likely be the most prepared team there because we have been able to spend so much time playing together over the last few years. I predict great results!”

More Info

Instagram: @MikeTestwuide

Written by Wooyoung Lee
Photographs courtesy of the Korea Ice Hockey Association

Lee Sol-lim of studio SOL +plus project is not just an idol scout. She’s an educator

Despite its location in the Apgujeong, an upmarket ward in the north of Gangnam District, the offices of SOL +plus project are rather unassuming. Hidden behind a generic, cutesy patbingsu café on the third floor of an elevator-less building, this small space houses miniature rooms designed for dance practice, piano playing, vocal training, and single-person karaoke rooms. In each room and corridor one can see young Koreans going through dance routines, warming up, playing old crooner-pop songs again and again, with dedication and focus. The unprecedented postponement of the university entrance exam has given some a free day to practice and perfect their chosen craft.

There is very little flash here. Not only at odds with the neighborhood around it, the SOL +plus project studio is also a far jump from the shiny, spot-perfect version presented at the end of the K-pop factory line on weekly local TV shows such as “Inkigayo” and “Music Bank,” and now also around the world.

Lee Sol-lim is equally unassuming. For over 12 years she worked at S.M. Entertainment’s academy division, discovering and guiding some of the most well-known performers in K-pop such as Kim Tae-yeon of Girls’ Generation, Lee Jin-ki (Onew) of Shinee, and Lee Sung-yeol of Infinite – names and groups that are second nature to Hallyu fans around the world. After majoring in media communication from Sookmyung Women’s University Lee’s love of J-pop idols took her to Japan. There she learned how to organize and run music events before crossing back over to Korea, where she did the same at Seoulland. Lee formed ties with people from diverse companies in the country. Her skills as a planner and events organizer eventually brought her to S.M. Entertainment as a talent scout, working with young hopefuls. “I never wanted to be an idol myself, but I did love the music of SoBangCha, H.O.T, and J-pop idols. Now I am more of a teacher.”

© SOL +plus project

K-pop with a social conscience

Her passion shows when she talks about finding and encouraging young, talented children. In her heart she is not simply an idol scout but instead an educator and a guide, helping her students to be good and socially conscious members of a wider world. “K-pop life is not easy. A lot of effort goes into this industry. Many people have asked me to focus on making money, but I want to contribute to society and help young children.”

SOL +plus project regularly sends young groups to play and volunteer at community events in lower income neighborhoods, retirement homes and orphanages. Lee asks the parents of her students to bring food, especially rice, that can be donated in place of the bouquet of flowers they might normally bring to a concert for their children. This is one of the main goals at SOL +plus project, teaching her students to be good, socially conscious people who actively engage with the world around them. This is clearly as vital to Lee as finding the next K-pop idol.

Whereas S.M., a massive conglomerate, is focused on finding the next big idol, SOL+plus project affords Lee the chance to take on smaller groups of youngsters, for four months at a time. She interviews each applicant to gauge what ambition they have. Are they simply interested in K-pop for easy fame and fortune or do they have real enthusiasm for the talents they believe they have? If so, Lee wants to give them a chance. Whereas a parent might actively discourage their child from pursuing a pop career, Lee looks for those with the passion for music. This was the situation when she first met Kim Tae-yeon, “Her father asked us to dissuade her, but after talking to Tae-yeon separately I could see she loved the music. I asked her father to let us give her a chance.” Of course, Lee acknowledges that “making it” is not just down to ambition and talent. Luck plays a sizable role too.

A large industry

Unlike pop industries in the U.S. or the U.K. where the manufactured nature of pop music has traditionally been hidden from those consuming it, young K-pop fans are much more knowledgeable about what goes on behind the scenes, what jobs there are to aspire to and even the different styles attached to the various entertainment companies. “Nowadays, K-pop isn’t just the idols, and children don’t just dream of becoming singers and dancers,” she says. “There are diverse roles to be filled in the industry, and finding the next generation of songwriters, organizers and managers is one of the main aims of Sol +plus project.”
Lee sees her company as a K-pop industry academy rather than a K-pop star academy, and with her long list of contacts she can connect her students to the larger entertainment companies in a very practical way.

Lee tells us she and her trainers go through all aspects of a performance with their students. What does the light director do, who is the sound engineer, how does the schedule get made and so on. This, she points out, is very unlike S.M. Entertainment, who would see those questions as superfluous. But in an expanding and increasingly global industry like K-pop, there are many diverse roles to be filled, and this practical knowledge will help those children potentially gain employment in the future.

© SOL +plus project

K-pop and the world

Lee’s time spent in one of the largest entertainment companies in Korea shows when she talks about K-pop and the Hallyu wave of Korean culture that has spread out to many Southeast Asian countries. “K-pop contributes to the power of Korea as a brand internationally. It is the most important part of a larger representation of Korea on the world stage.” For Lee, K-pop is not a true representation of Korea, but she is excited to see that through it people around the world are learning Korean, becoming interested in Korean culture and history and trying Korean dishes. Through the window of K-pop, fans are motivated to come to Korea and to spend time and money here. For a small nation, the positive impact on the economy has been tremendous, bolstering Korea’s GDP year on year.

Lee’s SOL +plus project also takes advantage of this by offering K-pop camps to groups of fans and hopefuls from other nations including China, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. SOL +plus global brings these international fans together with well-regarded idol trainers, and they come and learn in the same manner that Korean youngsters do. At the same time, Lee is keeping an eye out for new talents from other countries. Perhaps this could be seen as opportunistic, but for the earnest fans of K-pop, the chance to come to Korea, to work with people such as Lee and to explore the streets of Seoul must be an unrivaled joy. “No matter the background I want to give a chance to everybody. The children coming here are ambitious, so SOL +plus project gives them a chance.” This is something that S.M. Entertainment could not, or perhaps would not, offer.

As we go to leave SOL +plus project’s studio, we see a high school student practicing piano on his own, slowly transcribing an old folk hit onto the instrument. He stops and politely introduces himself and tells us he wants to be a songwriter. As soon as we say goodbye he gets straight back to the piano again. “I like being around young people. They have a lot of ambition and that gives me energy to help them. Not just to be idols but to be good people and to contribute to society.”

SOL +plus project: www.solplusproject.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/solplusproject

Written by Ali Safavi
Photographed by Robert Koehler

“The irony of travel is that getting used to something is good, and the unfamiliar is attractive. But the boundary between the two is a pain.”

Traveler, artist, designer and now author Yoo Hye-joo explains the difficulties of life on the road over a Vienna coffee in a café near Yeonnam-dong’s Yeontral Park. And if there’s somebody who would know the difficulties of travel, it’s Yoo, who since 2009 has spent large stretches of her life on the road, visiting 74 cities in 33 countries, including Australia, Romania, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia and Nepal, where she survived the massive earthquake of April 2015. If there’s one thing she’s learned from traveling, it’s that luggage makes the perfect analogy for how difficult we often make life. “Every time I had to pack, I’d curse. And no matter how much you try to lessen your baggage, you always pick up new stuff,” she says. “So I always felt, ‘so, this is how heavy your life is.’ The thing about traveling is you realize just how little you need to survive, but you keep on carrying around needless stuff to make life difficult. You can apply the same lessons to life in general.”

In October this year, Yoo self-published “You Smell Nice,” a collection of illustrations and stories from a journey through Southeast Asia and Nepal that included an extended stay in Chiang Mai. The title, unusual for a travel book, refers to the unique odor of used books, in this case, those in a used book shop in Chiang Mai. “I drew a picture a day,” she recalls. “And each picture has a story attached to it, so I wrote down notes so I wouldn’t forget them. I had in mind that I could use the notes to write a book later when I returned to Korea.”

Life as it is

A year and a half later, a period that included navigating the business side of publishing’s steep learning curve, Yoo’s book is earning praise from readers who appreciate its writer’s “slow travel” approach. “Frankly, I don’t like exciting trips,” she says. “I thought I would at first, but I discovered I didn’t. I liked being alone. I liked drawing and reading books. I did that for a year and realized, ah, this is who I am.” She realized that she wasn’t a thrill seeker, that she found joy not in awe-inspiring landscapes, but in the simple beauty of everyday life. “I just liked seeing life as it was.”

Yoo illustrates this point with a story about Thai coffee. You can get Thai coffee in any coffee shop in Chiang Mai, but for the real stuff, she says, you’ve got to go to a street vendor. She was walking around one day when she happened upon an elderly Thai woman brewing coffee at a street stall using big filters into which she put three spoonfuls of ground beans. Wondering how it might taste, she ordered a cup. “It was flavorless,” she says. “No flavor, no real charm. But I was there every morning. To drink it. I thought that was a bit like our daily lives. It might not be anything special or flashy, but we can’t live without it. It seems I went to the coffee place because I felt it was like daily life.”

Yoo advises travelers not to overthink things. Don’t be afraid, and overplan. The latter is probably a waste of time, anyway. She says, “Things never work out as you plan them.”

FYI> Naver blog: blog.naver.com/hyejoo2424
Facebook: facebook.com/hyejoo.yu
Instagram: @hyejooyu

니 냄새가 좋아 (You Smell Nice)
유혜주 (October 17, 2017)
288 pages
Paperback, 110 x 180
Available at Kyobo Book Centre and elsewhere

Written and photographed by Robert Koehler

Jung Han Moon

CEO of pressed juice company

Tell us about yourself. I’m an owner of a cold pressed juice company.

Did you always live in Seoul? I was born in Seoul, lived in the suburbs in elementary school and moved to Canada in middle school. I came back to Seoul in 2007.

How did you start your business? Ever since I was young, I had a desire to become a businessman. Around 2010, I was interested in the food and beverage industry. I acquired a barista license, but the coffee market was too competitive. I was deciding between juice and smoothies. After research, I was drawn to the idea of consuming natural ingredients, so I chose pressed juices. For three or four years, I did research in the United States and Canada and made hundreds of different recipes.

Tell us about your beginnings. I opened the store in Garosugil in June 2014. Back then, we were one of the first pressed juice bars in Korea. It was a new market. Nowadays, there are many competitors and I always think about how to sustain our business.

What’s your business philosophy? Our philosophy is comprised of taste, health and beauty. I prioritize taste and health, but my consumers gravitate more towards beauty. Many people see pressed juices as diet products, but I hope to educate them about health values through my business.

Where is your office? We were located in Garosugil but moved our office to Sungsu-dong. There are many like-minded businesses and social enterprises here. We identify with it more than the profit-oriented Gangnam neighborhood.

What have you learned while running your business? In the beginning, I focused a lot on product branding and marketing. There were benefits to that, as it strengthened our image. But I now see an importance in building a sustainable and holistic business model.

Lisa Lee

Baker

Tell us about yourself. Since 2013, I’ve been running an online bakery with healthy baked goods.

Were you always interested in baking? If not, what were your interests? I’d actually wanted to be a fashion designer when I was young. I attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, where I majored in fashion design. But I regretfully realized that though I loved drawing, I didn’t enjoy making clothes. I completed my two-year program and ended up opening a bakery a year later.

What inspired you to open your business? While I was taking a break in Korea, a friend suggested that I open a bakery. She’s always loved the baked goods I made as a hobby. I began to sell small batches to people around me. One day, I received a 100-cookie order and baked all night. I fully enjoyed the process, and recalled how I didn’t have the same satisfaction when I stayed up doing assignments in college. That’s when I decided to go full force with the business.

Why did you decide to sell healthy baked goods? In college, I was interested in dieting and nutrition science, and I baked for my health. Back in 2013, there weren’t many bakeries selling gluten-free, vegan products in Seoul. I wanted to share delicious, high-quality pastries that people can enjoy without worrying about their health.

Your favorite item in your menu? The banana chocolate chip muffin is special to me. When I was in the United States, I would visit a particular bakery just to taste their muffins. Though it’s still uncommon in Korea, I consider it a classic.

What is Seoul to you? It’s a place of opportunity. I regularly attend Marche, a farmers market with local food and craft sellers. I’m able to engage with thousands of people and enjoy offline opportunities that are not accessible to me everyday. I’m thankful for the community I have in Seoul.

From fashion assistant to editor-in-chief, Eunsung Park of Magazine B shares her dynamic editorial journey

The word on the street is that print is dead. Eunsung Park believes otherwise, “I don’t think the print industry is dying. What is dead is the traditional perception of print. Times have changed, so attitudes must change accordingly.”

Eunsung Park is the editor-in-chief of Magazine B, a Seoul-based brand documentary magazine. Since the release of its first issue in November 2011, Magazine B has been redefining perceptions of magazines in Korea and abroad. On the back of every issue is a statement that has stayed true for the past six years: “Magazine B is an ad-free publication offering an independent perspective on well-balanced brands from around the globe.” Each month, the magazine selects a brand that meets the four-part criteria of philosophy, price, beauty and practicality. As of November 2017, B has featured 60 global brands from various industries like New Balance, Google, Muji and Apple Music. One of Korea’s trendiest lifestyle magazines, it can be seen on the shelves in the hottest bookshops and cafés, as well as in the hands of entrepreneurs, creators and the like in Seoul.

Park is the chief engineer and lady director behind the publication. She joined the team for the fourth issue in 2012 and became the editor-in-chief earlier this year. Her determined, confident persona mirrors the design savvy and conceptually innovative publication.

An aspiring editor

From a young age, Park invested countless hours in cultivating the mindset of a creator over a consumer. She was set on pursuing a career in fashion and couldn’t imagine herself doing anything else. “Since middle school, I loved reading magazines,” she recalls. “People usually just flip through the visuals. I read with an intention to make something like this one day. I studied how the editors choose products, shoot photos and write articles.”

In addition to observing magazines, she frequently practiced documenting her thoughts. “Nowadays, people are able to express themselves through social media,” she says. “When I was in high school, the Internet was just becoming popular. Even with a lack of platforms, I would look up fashion collections from New York and Paris online and record my thoughts about them. Ever since then, I practiced seeing and critiquing from an editorial perspective.”

Park eventually went on pursue fashion design in college. However, she realized that enjoying fashion and making clothes are two different things. “I really loved clothes. When I began fashion construction classes, though, I realized clothes cannot be made with just an idea,” she says.

Instead of continuing fashion construction classes, she directed her focus on fashion marketing. She especially enjoyed classes where she organized and explained trends according to her personal perspective. She recalls, “I loved presenting my interests, so I thought a job where I can closely communicate with the public would be the best fit. Writing is the most effective way to communicate, and I wanted to focus on fashion.” To be a fashion editor was her newfound goal, and she was determined to make it her reality.

Professional launch

After college, Park immediately jumped into the fashion industry. To experience the ins and outs of a fashion magazine, she began working at Elle as a fashion assistant. After a year, she applied for an editorial internship where she was able to explore different magazines within the owner company. For two months at a time, she worked at fashion, film and men’s magazines. At the end of the term, she would choose where she would begin work as a full-time editor. To everyone’s surprise, she chose the film publication Premier. She says, “I was fascinated by how film touches on fundamental questions of life and humanity. The work that involved dissecting such questions seemed like a vital step to grow as an editor.”

Her first editor job at a film magazine was a foundational period for her career. “I attribute 80 percent of my editorial identity to this role,” she shares, “I learned and practiced how to look at phenomenons, develop a perspective and persuade the audience with my voice.” From this process, she came away with a valuable lesson that would stick with her in the years to come. “Films persuades viewers through a constructed story. In the same way, I analyzed the film to convince the readers,” she recalls. “I realized that good writing is not just listing out what I like; it must persuade people. Through this practice, I gained a vision for what kind of editor I want to become.”

One-of-a-kind magazine

For the next decade, Park continued to sharpen and mature her unique perspective through feature editorial roles in fashion and living interior magazines. These experiences eventually led to her first encounter with Magazine B in 2011. Even to a veteran editor, the publication’s unique format and content came as a shock to her. She recalls, “I had received traditional editorial training, and when I first saw B, it was nothing like I’ve seen before.” When she was presented with an opportunity to work at B, her curiosity led her to a bold yes.

During her time at the magazine, Park realized how her interest in fashion and editorial jobs in different fields set her up to tell the multidimensional story of brands. “No matter what brand comes, I don’t panic,” she says. “I have confidence that as long as we understand the brand’s philosophy, we can express it through our perspective. I developed this perspective for years, so I only need to apply it.”

For the past five years, Park learned from B just as much as she has contributed to it. “My perception of magazines’ role has changed. I now view magazines as lifestyle products,” she explains. “To me, selecting a magazine is no different from choosing a film or a travel destination. They are all experiences we can enjoy to add value to our lives. Magazines can suggest the kind of person we want to become and the life we want to live.”

Future of print

In a digital world with fluid communication and limitless channels, magazines are one of many outlets. The possibilities for magazines, however, are greater than people perceive.

Park has just returned from a business trip in London for the newly published 60th issue of B featuring the UK-based magazine Monocle. It was a valuable opportunity for her to rethink the print industry. “As more people engage with social media, their standards for content rise. Magazines can satisfy those cravings by sharing content with concentrated curation,” she says. “Many people in media talk about how magazines will take more diverse and creative formats in the future.”

Along the changing tides of the print industry, Park will continue to engage her sharp editorial voice to rule out any dull edges. “Before, I just wanted to be an editor. But now I feel like I can try anything with confidence,” she says. “Even for Magazine B, we realize there is more we can do. We want to make our magazine with a mentality that anyone can read it.”

For both Park and Magazine B, the best is still yet to come.

More Info

Website: magazine-b.com/en/
Facebook: facebook.com/Brand.Magazine.B/
Instagram: @magazine.b

Written by Diana Park

Photo courtesy by Magazine B

Through his writing, doctor and author Nam Koong Ihn brings healing to his readers … and to himself

Nam Koong Ihn heals with his pen as well as his scalpel. A clinical assistant professor in emergency care at Ewha Womans University Medical Center, he is also the author of two commercially acclaimed books, “There Is No If” and “A Vicious Day.”  His emotionally poignant diction and suspenseful depictions of life in a hospital emergency room, based on true life incidents, have captured readers’ hearts. His first book, “There Is No If,” released in July 2016, is still a best-seller. His second book, the recently released “A Vicious Day,” is moving up the best-seller charts as well.

Social media beginnings

Though Nam’s writing career may have officially begun with the release of “There Is No If” in 2016, his accounts of life as a doctor grew popular years before thanks to social media. Working as a resident doctor of emergency medicine at Korea University Medical Centers around the country and, later, as a public health doctor at Chungnam Fire Service Headquarters, he regularly posted his experiences and observations  on Facebook. “My friends read it mostly – until a full length post I wrote in May 2013 about a frustrating experience I had in the emergency room,” he recalls. “Over 1,000 people liked it.”

Indeed, to his legion of online fans, the first sentence of his breakout post, “There hasn’t been a cardiothoracic surgery resident in our hospital for many years,” has taken on the legend of “Call me Ishmael.” Doggedly sharing his writing, he built a robust online following. In 2016, a post titled “Legendary Doctor Training Ground” went viral on local humor forums, a fortuitous event as he was soon contacted by a publisher regarding a potential book deal. Since then, he has shared over 1,000 posts on Facebook, where he currently has over 29,000 followers, and his Naver blog.

Nam says he’s wanted to be a writer since he was young. This desire evolved naturally, even as he began a career in medicine. “I’ve always loved writing,” he says. “But I scored better on math in high school, so I naturally went the science route and then to medical school. Even as I prepared to become a doctor, I continued to write.”

Nonetheless, Nam’s unusual background as a medical professional impacted his writing. “I originally wanted to write belles-lettres about the human condition. I was able to express this literary interest through my expertise as a doctor, and my dream to become a writer naturally became a reality.”

Nam’s two novels document real-life episodes in an emergency room. To protect the privacy of patients, he merges true life and the imaginary to create what the writer calls “faction,” a portmanteau of “fact” and “fiction.” In his work, he observes the world from an uncommon perspective, namely, that of a depressed doctor. He attributes this viewpoint to an episode he experienced early in his career. “A young woman with leukemia came in that day. She only had two years left to live,” he recalls. “I asked the doctor in charge about her situation, and he was so calm. He didn’t even know why I was so concerned. These situations are so common, but I couldn’t shake off my sympathy for the patient’s misfortune.”

There Is No If, Munhakdongne (July 4, 2016), 316 pages Paperback, 145 x 210 x 30 mm, Available at Kyobo Book and elsewhere

Healing with words

In the emergency room, Nam is like any other doctor, caring for patients in a seemingly chaotic atmosphere where life coexists with death. Even to a professional, frequent encounters with tragedy and death can be overwhelming. Because of this, doctors often become emotionally insensitive, an unavoidable and perhaps even justifiable development. Otherwise, the mental and emotional burden would be unbearable. “Working at the emergency room is my job, but it’s terrifying every time,” he says. “I let myself forget to continue my work. It is when I return home that I revive the tension and tell those stories.”

Nam’s work revives emotions suppressed during his proverbial day job, expressing them through his characters. His writing process requires immense concentration and emotional depth. “I must multiply my experience of sorrow in order to convey a single drop to the reader,” he explains. “If I don’t feel these emotions fully, it’s hard to deliver them to my readers.”

He maintains the tension through the dark of the night, resurrecting forgotten memories. “I turn off the lights, stare at the screen and try to feel the emotions in an exaggerated way,” he says. “Then the words flow naturally from my body, not my mind.”

While his medicine heals others, his writing heals himself. “Writing is a tool I use to expand and express my emotions,” he says. “I release and empty out my feelings through writing. Though my body is tired when I finish, I feel lighter.”

A Vicious Day , Munhakdongne (July 21, 2017) , 260 pages, Paperback, 147 x 211 x 20 mm, Available at Kyobo Book and elsewhere

New genre at work

Doctors who write are common enough in Korea. Nam, however, brings a fresh perspective. “Before, doctors wrote from their point of view about patients. Very few wrote about themselves as human,” he explains. “I write from my persona as a depressed doctor, however. So my perspective is refreshing, and readers consider my work to be a new genre.”

He adds, “Writers who want to write about life and death can usually do so only based on interviews. I, on the other hand, am a doctor, but I also write. I became a writer by talking about my profession and my medical knowledge.”

Nam’s books stand out in contrast to other best-sellers under the essay category in Korea. While other top-listing essay writers cover optimistic topics about healing and happiness, Nam zones into human depression and trauma. His contrasting perspective makes his story one worth reading. What also sets him apart is his skill in conveying the doctoring experience in language that is easy to understand. He includes explanations of medical terminology, explanations that doctors do not need, but general readers certainly do. “Before, doctors didn’t write so that the public could understand. I use medical terminology in a way that the general reader can comprehend,” he says. “That kind of writing is uncommon, so my readers are thankful.”

Nam will continue to write from the heart and empathize with his patients’ tragedies. “At the end of the day, I’m telling my own story,” he says. “I also feel a sense of responsibility, though, as I share stories about my patients. I think deeply about what kind of social messages I want to share. I want to create more opportunities for me to speak and share in positive way.”

More info

Naver blog: blog.naver.com/xinsiders

Facebook: facebook.com/ihn.namkoong

Written and photographed by Diana Park

Jinju Yi

Pianist and composer

Tell us about yourself. I’m a jazz pianist. I also produce, compose and arrange music. Since February 2015, I’ve been leading a band of jazz instrumentalists under my name.

How did you start playing the piano? I first started playing the piano when I was seven. I still recall how much I enjoyed playing even back then – and practiced more than my peers.

Tell us about your education in music. I originally studied classic composition, but felt like it wasn’t for me. I eventually took a year off. During that time, I got connected to jazz pianist Song Young Joo. She taught me a lot and eventually motivated me to apply to Berklee School of Music. I prepared for a year and was admitted into the contemporary performance program. During my time there, I was surrounded by musical talents from around the world and learned to express what I have with confidence.

Tell us about your album. In June this year, I released my first full-length album, “Freely, Naturally.” I specifically enjoy the fusion jazz genre where I merge familiar tunes with fresh interpretations. Jazz music can be difficult to understand, so I added funk, pop and gospel sounds into what I write and play. I wanted to communicate with as many people as possible, so I expressed jazz music in this way. My music is familiar yet new to the listeners.

What message do you want to share through your album? My album is essentially a musical expression of my emotions. The tracks are all melodies without lyrics, so I speak through instruments. So when a certain tune reminds the listener of a forgotten emotion or memory, that connection itself is a message. I hope my music will allow more people to connect with their emotions, both sad and happy.

What is Seoul to you? I lived in Namyangju for most of my life and have been living in Seoul for four years now. As I zone in closer to the city, I pick up stories in the smallest things. What I see is an immediate reflection of the people’s thoughts and interests. Seoul is not a place to be judged at first look, but must be observed for a period of time. As I observe more, I discover more meaning – and I’ll continue to repeat the process to create music that speaks.

Ko Seong Bae

Independent publisher and editor-in-chief

Tell us about yourself. Since 2014, I have been publishing, distributing and marketing books as a one-person independent publisher. I’m also the editor-in-chief of “The Kooh,” a magazine that explores my interpretation of Japanese otaku culture. I also made independent books like “Dream Collector” about people’s dreams and “Meteor” with old photos I collected from auction.

How did you start your magazine? I didn’t necessarily like figurines or comics, but people called me deokhu. Back then, deokhu was a negative title for people with obsessive interests. I see the deokhu lifestyle simply as a way to tell stories you like, and I wanted to convey that through “The Kooh.”

How do you fund your independent book projects? I often use a crowd-funding website. It’s a great way to get public participation for creative projects and gauge how people respond to my work. One of the most successful projects was a campaign to publish the book “Food Recipes from Comic Books” where I recreated foods from famous comic books.

How did the independent publication scene change since you started? People who make books have changed. Before, they were writers, designers and illustrators. Now, they are normal people without professional training. They can be office workers or high school students. If you have a story to share, you can easily make books.

How has your personal work evolved over the years? I’ve had more opportunities to share my work in public. I host lectures and workshops at independent bookstores. From April to July this year, I was part of the “Project Dukhoo: Finding Flow” exhibition at the Seoul Museum of Art. This exhibition led to a lecture series called “Artist Lunchbox,” where I host magazine-making workshops at SeMA for people of all ages.

Your thoughts about Seoul? Seoul carries many essences. There is a unified essence that defines cities like New York or Tokyo. In Seoul, different districts have their own image. There is no single, all-encompassing cultural landmark, either; landmarks are spread throughout the city. There are so many different aspects without a sense of unity. But because of that, you are able to enjoy many diverse experiences.

Hong Na Young

Café owner

Tell us about yourself. I run a Hanok café in Bukchon. I opened it in May 2017.

What did you do before? I taught English for five years in elementary and middle schools. I had to take care of my health, and I felt an urgency to do something I truly want to do. I’ve always wanted to open my own café, so I quit my teaching job and worked in restaurants and cafés for three years. Those experiences helped me to eventually open my own.

What inspired your health-conscious menu? Our main menu includes pressed juices and light healthy plates like kale rice wraps and avocado bowls. My husband lived in the United States for a long time and loves fast food. I started cooking healthier meals for him. I also love inviting people over and feeding friends. The menu is an extension of my cooking at home.

How did you choose the name of the café? My husband chose the name “Green Nap.” I like how it sounds in Korean better. It truly reflects the mood and atmosphere of the café. You know how people say you follow your name? Customers occasionally nap here (laughs).

Tell us about a memorable time in Seoul. I went to Hongik University and spent my 20s in Hongdae. I consider it my heart’s hometown. While exploring cafés and going to performances, I developed a desire to open my own café. The area changed a lot, but will always be special to me.

Your thoughts about Seoul? Seoul is a place of nostalgia and travel. I lived in Bucheon for most of my life until I moved out here few years ago. Even though I lived far away, my life pattern was in Seoul. I would spend most of my days in Seoul and just sleep in Bucheon.

Since May, I’ve been living in Buam-dong. I appreciate the jeong here. Even at the café, owners of surrounding businesses came by to welcome me when I first opened. I still have to wake myself to the reality that I work and live in Jongno-gu.

Since I moved here, I realize how I may have been looking at Seoul through a stereotype. I love it more daily and am excited for the future I’m building in Seoul.

Kim Cheon Ho

Chef and restaurant owner

Tell us about your business. Since September 2015, I’ve been running Quiet Evening in Changjeon-dong. It’s a one-chef restaurant with tapas and Italian food.

How did you start out? In 2014, I started the business as a food truck. The film “Chef” had just come out and food trucks were just becoming mainstream in Korea. I ran it for about a year and opened the restaurant.

Why did you choose this neighborhood? I love the quietness of Changjeon-dong. I don’t like crowded places. Rent isn’t necessarily cheaper, but I enjoy the mood here.

How did you start working in the Korean dining industry? I started off with an interest in wine but didn’t see it turning into a practical route in Korea. So instead, I worked as a kitchen assistant in an Italian restaurant and eventually worked my way up. Even when I served my three-year military term, I cooked in the military hotel. I started when I was 20, so I’ve been in the industry for over 10 years now.

What do you like about Italian cuisine? Italian dishes consist of basic ingredients like herbs, olive oil and tomato. They are simple on their own but create interesting flavors when they’re mixed well. The taste is simple and doesn’t feel heavy even when you eat a lot. I also love how the flavors gain another level with the right wine.

Where you do get inspiration for your cooking? I didn’t train at school and learned through working in restaurants and traveling. I travel once or twice a year, and I especially love visiting Spain and the Netherlands. Traveling is one my main inspirations to plan my menu.

How did the Italian food scene change in Seoul? When I first started working, there weren’t many Italian restaurants. Now, even small neighborhoods have one or two. I enjoy what I see when I explore around the city.

One downside is that people always ask for a new dish. I only change my menu seasonally and don’t change it as much as other restaurants. I like keeping consistency in my menu.

Any future plans? I’m getting married soon. My fiancé and I are planning to move to Gimpo for a more relaxed home environment. Also, my younger brother owns a bakery, and we eventually want to open up a space together.

Written and photographed by Diana Park