Alumni CEO Talk
WGNB Representative Jonghwan Baek, Department of Spatial Design
There's no need to be too humble when you're new. After 20 years in the design industry, I've met a lot of juniors and they look shy and unimpressive. The moment they relax a little bit, they work harder and harder. As with all things, design is about getting paid honestly for what you do. Jonghwan Baek is recognised not only in Korea but also abroad. Even after 20 years, he still enjoys designing, which is why he is so fierce.
Twelve competitions and persistence led to the creation of a beautiful tree
Baek Jonghwan wanted to become an automobile designer or fashion designer when he was in high school. He studied entrance exam art for two years after a friend told him that he could become a designer if he went to art school. His first choice was Kookmin University, but he was admitted to the Department of Spatial Design.
"The department of spatial design was the perfect fit for me, considering my short preparation, SATs, and my academic record."
Learn about <His Private Life> with an infographic presented by WGNB staff to CEO Baek Jong-hwan
WGNB mockup (top) Office scene (bottom)
The more he studied, the more he realised that space design, which involves thinking about spaces that contain people and seeing how they are used, suited him well. After his sophomore year, he challenged a space design competition. He won first prize in the first competition, then second prize in the next competition, then third prize, then honourable mention, then commendation. After winning several small prizes, one day I won a bigger prize, and I won the top prize in the twelfth challenge, the Korea Interior Architecture Competition.
Twenty years ago, Jonghwan Paik won small and big prizes in a dozen competitions.
Now he's winning prizes at international design awards
"If you enter a competition once or twice and don't win a big prize, most people quit, but I didn't stop trying. I realised then that small results add up to something better, and that I can do anything if I put in the effort. I also realised that I'm a pretty persistent person."
Jonghwan Baek joined space design firm Associate after winning the top prize at the Korea Interior Architecture Competition. One of the jury members, spatial designer Sungchil Park, a professor of spatial design, recruited Baek as an employee.
Hitmakers dominate the space with their own perspective
His first project was the construction of a plastic surgery centre in Apgujeong. It was a part-time job that Jonghwan Baek used to do during his undergraduate holidays.
"Each space design company has different areas of work," he says, "and at Associate, we dealt with both construction and space design. I spent the first five years of my career focusing on construction. If my part-time job was about cleaning, organising, and learning to work, construction at Associate helped me to look at the materials used, the costs involved, and how to create an economical and high-quality design space. I learnt on the job that there are designs that can be made with less money, and designs that can be made with good quality, and designs that sometimes have to give up profits for quality."
Kobo HotTracks
MUSINSA Edit Shop EMPTY (top, bottom)
In the seventh year, he focused solely on space design, and the space designed by Baek Jong-hwan became a hot topic when it was used as a backdrop for a drama. <The lake house, which is famous as Hyun Bin's home in Secret Garden, brings nature into the space through its expansive windows. It was praised not only by the industry but also by the public.
"I finally had a hit," says Baek, "and as Lakehouse gained more and more fame and more corporate clients, I was given the opportunity to design more diverse spaces than ever before."
If Lakehouse made Jonghwan Baek and his associates more famous, the Kyoobo Bookstore Hottrack, Kakao Friends Store, Junji Flagship Store, and Mushinsa Sold Out are the spaces that put Baek's name on the map in the design industry. While each looks and feels different, they share a commonality in being purposeful and visually impactful while wary of similar styles of work.
"A designer is a person who resolves conflicts between people and things. To solve a problem, you don't prescribe the same medicine, but you have to give order to the place. This order has to be implemented from your own perspective. Connecting existing things and looking at them from a new perspective is your own perspective and the creativity of a designer." It took Baek 15 years to organise and express his designs in words, which he had only implemented in space. In the meantime, Airsociation was renamed WGNB, and his name was followed by the title of co-president. He had a special relationship with Park Sungchil, a jury member, professor, and CEO, but two years later, Park left to pursue a life of freedom.
Design to fill in the gaps
Just as he has given a different order to the space, Baek Jong-hwan has implemented a different order to his life. Instead of graduating, joining a company, and getting married, he got married, joined a company, and graduated. He got married in November of his senior year, became the head of the family, and started working at the company the following month, and hasn't let go of design for 20 years.
"I wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn't married so soon, maybe I would have stayed in the corporate world for a few years and studied abroad in the middle of it, or maybe I would have had the experience of living abroad or travelled a lot... Whatever I would have chosen, I think the life I have now is the best because I have no interest in anything other than design - art, craft, architecture, fashion, furniture... For quite a long time, there were long days when I didn't have a hobby."
Drawings by Jonghwan Paik. Sometimes he posts his drawings on social media
Jonghwan Baek saw someone's diary on the news and remembered that he had written "painting" as a hobby in his diary as a child. The next morning, he painted watercolours and found himself immersed in something other than work for the first time in a very long time. Ever since that day, he has started his day by going to the office early in the morning to paint.
"Painting was purely personal, and I was lucky enough to participate in exhibitions of my paintings, but recently I suddenly realised that the paintings I'm doing now are preparing me for architectural design. Space design should be trendy for commercial spaces that are not religious and residential spaces, but my time is passing away from trends. On the other hand, there are people who see the light in architectural design beyond their fifties and sixties, and I wonder if I will be doing space design based on architectural design around this age, using my fierce youth as the foundation."
Junge flagship store (top, bottom)
SVRN Chicago Store (top, bottom)
Baek Jong-hwan says that since the Junji flagship store opened three years ago, the number of architectural commissions has increased, not only in Korea but also overseas. One of WGNB's goals last year and the year before was to increase the number of architectural projects.
"I want to erase the fine line between architectural design and spatial design," says Baek, "The architectural team, spatial design team, and furniture team that we have now are working together as a team, seeing the same vision, caring about each other and helping each other like a football team playing a game."
Baek's favourite architects are Le Corbusier, Alvaro Siza, Peter Zumthor, Valerio Olgiati, and Christian Kerez, and his favourite architectural teams are SANAA Group and Junya Ishigami. In his fifties, what will his architectural designs contain, and if we add his perspective to the works of the architects mentioned by Baek Jong-hwan, do we dare to draw a blueprint?
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