Prominent Korean visitor in the red dot design museum

Zec becomes member of the Seoul International Business Advisory Council

A city of millions discovers the subject of design for its purposes: Seoul. In July last year, the Mayor of Seoul, OH Se Hoon surprised the design world with his inauguration speech in which he claimed that, “the 21st century is the age of design. From today on we are all designers with the task of making Seoul the best city in the world. […]”. There has rarely been such a clear commitment to the subject of design from the leading politician of a country before.

Less than one year after said speech he visited the red dot design museum last Tuesday as the only stop in Germany on his European tour. Together with the Korean ambassador to Germany, OH Haeng-kyeom and a delegation of journalists and staff he visited the museum to learn about successful design promotion.

As part of an innovation and modernisation initiative, OH Se Hoon is currently also planning the construction of an enormous design plaza in Seoul, amongst other buildings. At the end of his visit to the red dot design museum he personally invited Professer Zec, president of the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen and the international umbrella organisation of industrial designers Icsid, to become a member of the ‘Seoul International Business Advisory Council’ as an exclusive advisor for design and culture and to assist in the development of the design plaza. Among the Advisory Council’s members are industry greats such as Peter T. Grauer, Bloomberg LP, Christopher Forbes, vice president of Forbes, and Dr. Jürgen Hambrecht, chairman of the board of executive directors of BASF.

In turn Professor Zec gave the Mayor an insight into the Design Zentrum’s many years of design promotion and the success story of the red dot design award. He also explained what impact the work of the Design Zentrum has had on the development of the Zeche Zollverein world cultural heritage site into a design location. In a subsequent guided tour of the red dot design museum and the premises of Zeche Zollverein the Mayor of Seoul, who with his 46 years of age is the youngest ever Mayor of Seoul, could see for himself how a location can prepare itself for the future with design, architecture and industry. 

Concluding his visit he wrote into the guest book of the Design Zentrum: “This is the first experience that I deeply realize the real meaning of design.”