Inspiring exhibitions and a Singaporean escape
The 2025 Home·Table Deco Fair returns to Coex from Dec. 18-21, using its 20th anniversary not as a celebration but as a moment of reflection. Over two decades, the fair has tracked how people in Korea design and think about their homes — trends again under scrutiny as more than 550 brands fill 1,000 booths this winter.
At the center is “Lifescape: Journey Through Time,” an archival-style installation curated by PPS CEO Koo Byung-jun. Instead of a nostalgic retrospective, it presents 20 objects that chart shifting tastes, habits and priorities, prompting questions about what defines “living culture” and how quickly it evolves.
Surrounding sections — Light Scenes, Art Living, Next Creators and Zero Waste — read like field notes on today’s fragmented aesthetics, each hinting at a different direction for home design. The Signature H program spotlights designers including Teo Yang's Eastern Edition and Japanese maker Karimoku, whose works trace the intersection of craft and contemporary design.
Running alongside, Design Salon Seoul 2025 brings global designers and editors together to discuss where spatial and lifestyle trends are heading next. The fair also introduces its 2026 design keywords as a framework for what may shape next year’s living landscape.
Admission is 15,000 won.
Home·Table Deco Fair
Coex Hall C & D, 513 Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
While the 2025 Home·Table Deco Fair offers abundant inspiration for home interiors, another major event this week shifts the focus to the objects that bring character and warmth into living spaces.
The Craft Trend Fair 2025, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Korea Craft and Design Foundation, returns for its 20th edition this week. The fair highlights how Korea’s traditional aesthetics have evolved into world-class craftsmanship and aims to connect artists and studios directly with consumers, helping quality craftwork find its market.
Under the theme “Aesthetics of Craftsmanship,” this year’s fair brings together 311 participants including individual artists, galleries, and workshops with 85 first-time exhibitors and 186 craft studios showcasing their work.
Lee Jung-woo, sirector general for culture and arts policy at the Culture Ministry said that craft was a vital part of Korea's cultural export strategy.
"We will continue to strengthen the creative environment so that craft artists can take pride in their work, and we will actively support the growth of craft as a key pillar of K-culture," Lee said.
The event runs from Thursday to Sunday at Coex Hall A. Admission is 10,000 won.
Craft Trend Fair 2025
Coex Hall A, 513 Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
gypark@heraldcorp.com
Singaporean cuisine is still a rarity in Seoul, but in the city’s center sits a stylish, contemporary restaurant showcasing the nation’s flavors under the direction of Singaporean celebrity chef Justin Quek.
The first floor operates as a chic bar, while diners seeking a full meal can head upstairs, where floor-to-ceiling glass and a streamlined red-accented interior create a modern backdrop.
Its signature offering, the Singapore Platter, features prawn fritters paired with chili crab meat sauce, charcoal-grilled chicken satay with peanut sauce and five-spice prawn and minced-pork spring rolls. The menu also highlights an array of satays — chicken, lamb and pork — a Southeast Asian staple of skewered and grilled meats traditionally served with tangy peanut sauce, cucumber and onion.
Quek, who has cooked for Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and served as a state chef for the French Embassy, brings delicious and rare specialties that have made the restaurant a local standout. It has also become a go-to filming location for a slew of Korean entertainment programs, recently including Tving’s viral “Transit Love” Season 4.
For a festive outing, Sambal Choi Satay Club will be an appealing spot to gather with loved ones over Asian delicacies in one of Seoul’s most-visited settings.
Sambal Choi Satay Club
14-1 Namdaemun-ro 1-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
(yoonseo.3348@heraldcorp.com)
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