SPACE May 2025 (No. 690)
Exterior view of THEILMA Seoul Flagship Store
1st floor interior of the hanok section
Mak Project Space (2021, hereinafter Mak House), designed by Cho Byoungsoo (principal, BCHO Partners), is an exhibition and cultural space nestled amongst the small, timeworn buildings of Seochon. On the 4th of March, it became home to THEILMA Seoul Flagship Store, the latest retail space by fashion brand THEILMA. To transform the existing Mak House into a showroom, THEILMA commissioned Crosby Studios, led by Harry Nuriev, to reimagine this space. Crosby Studios reinterpreted Mak House as a space in which tradition and modernity, the past and the future, meet. Blending upcycled objects that bear the traces of time with contemporary interior elements, the newly revitalised THEILMA Seoul Flagship Store has revealed itself to be a space in which multiple timelines intersect and coexist.
Kim Hyerin (Kim): The THEILMA Seoul Flagship Store (hereinafter THEILMA Store) is housed within the Mak House, an architectural project (covered in SPACE No. 684) by Cho Byoungsoo. It fuses a 110-year-old hanok (traditional Korean house) with a 60-year old Western-style masonry building. The Mak House is located in Seochon; what was your initial impression of both the site and the architecture?
Harry Nuriev (Nuriev): The space immediately spoke to me with its layers of history. The hanok, with its timeless elegance, holds the weight of tradition, while the masonry building adds a more contemporary, industrial touch. What I found most compelling was how the passage of time was visible in every corner, yet, rather than clashing, the old and new elements seemed to complement one another, creating a space that felt alive and full of character. This thoughtful balance between tradition and innovation set the tone for how I envisioned transforming the space into THEILMA Store.
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