Luxury and beauty brands are increasingly using hanok, traditional Korean houses, along with traditional markets and museums as the main stage for their branding, borrowing a sense of history and time that products and brands cannot easily acquire on their own.
Louis Vuitton held a high jewelry and watch event late last month at the Korea Furniture Museum in Seongbuk-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, industry sources said on the 6th. The French brand pursued the event because it saw the museum's traditional aesthetic as aligned with the values the brand seeks, according to industry sources. The intent was to place the hands of artisans who crafted Joseon-era wooden furniture on the same plane as the hands of the atelier that cuts its high jewelry.
This is not the first time the Korea Furniture Museum has served as a stage for a luxury brand. Louis Vuitton also held a "Louis Vuitton Watch Club" event at the museum in 2024 to mark the launch of its new Escale watch collection. Gucci held an anniversary archive exhibition at the same venue.
The industry views the museum as part of Korea's heritage and is pairing it with brand identity. The venue hosted a dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife in 2014, as well as a luncheon for the spouses of Group of 20 leaders. For brands, that offers a chance to borrow the heritage of a traditional Korean space where state guests have been received.
Beyond the museum, hanok have become sought-after venues for fashion companies. U.S. golf wear brand Malbon opened its flagship "Malbon Gaok" in a hanok in May, and beauty brand Aromatica opened "Aromatica Bukchon" in April. French perfume brand Trudon ran a pop-up at Rakkojae Aegaheon in May, and premium tea brand Super Matcha operated one at the Art Sonje hanok in March. Following MLB and Le Labo, Chinese toy brand Pop Mart also opened a store in Bukchon.
As Bukchon has become a hot spot drawing both domestic and foreign tourists, food companies have also begun holding events in hanok. KFC opened an experiential pop-up called "Colonel's Crispy Housewarming" at the Bukchon hanok Waok in June.
Some brands are moving into traditional markets. Fashion brands including Matin Kim, Marithe Francois Girbaud, Setter and Kirsh have opened at Gwangjang Market in Seoul, along with stores from Off Beauty, Kodak and Acme de la Vie. CJ Olive Young opened an 805-square-meter Olive Young Gwangjang Market store on the second floor of the market's silk section in April. Built around an "Olyoung Yanghaeng" concept that recreates a 1960s shop, it features a raw-ingredient curation zone displaying items such as green tangerine, birch and mugwort, as well as a hanbok experience space. Starbucks opened its Gwangjang Market store in May last year, its second outlet in a traditional market after the Gyeongdong 1960 store, which was converted from a shuttered theater in Gyeongdong Market in 2022. Daiso is also considering a location at Gwangjang Market.
"In the past, a store was a place to sell products, but now its role is expanding into an experience space that shows a brand's worldview," an official in the retail industry said. "The reason brands are turning to hanok, markets and museums is ultimately to gain the trust that comes from time that has been proven."
