For the 2025 edition of the Rising Talents Awards, Maison&Objet pointed its compass towards South Korea, unveiling the new generation of design innovators.

Following the trend of ‘Hallyu,’ Korea’s cultural ‘soft power,’ the peninsula has become home to many established international architects who work in this highly inspiring setting. The new generation of designers is exploring the paradoxes between Western influences and the roots of their craft heritage, innovating with ancestral materials and shifting the boundaries between design and art, or vice versa.

“The languages they weave are marked by an assertive futurism, refined originality, and a reinvention of sculptural techniques. Moreover, our daily lives are fuelled by this giant of industrial and technological innovation. Finally, even if the Korean creative scene is recognized today, we still have much to discover,” said Dereen O’Sullivan, head of the Rising Talents Awards programme.

As usual for the awards, all recipients are under 35 and have set up their studio less than five years ago. Together, they represent an aesthetic that is both modern and respectful of the rich history of the dynasties that once ruled the shores of the Yellow Sea.

The January 2025 winners are Dahye Jeong, Kuo Duo, Minjae Kim, niceworkshop, Sisan Lee, WooJay Lee, and In Yeonghye. These rising stars have been meticulously selected by a jury of internationally renowned experts, including, Jonghwan Baek, ceo of WGNB, winner of the IF Awards, Frame Awards, and Dezeen Awards; Kang-Heui Cha: Ceo of Seoul Design Foundation; Stéphane Galerneau, chairman of Ateliers D’art De France; Vincent Grégoire, director of Consumer Trends - Nelly Rodi; Youngshin Jang, Creative Director of Hyundai DPT Store; Jeongman Song, global business director at the Korean Design Promotion Institute and a former researcher at the University of Washington; Teo Yang, interior designer, and architect.

All winners will be showcased at Maison&Objet, where they will reveal their bold and visionary creations, reimagining the possibilities of design for a new generation. From innovative installations to forward-thinking creations, their work embodies the spirit of Korea’s rich cultural heritage while looking firmly toward the future.

THE WINNERS OF 2025 RISING TALENTS AWARDS

Dahye Jeong
Dahye Jeong, 34, weaves horsehair on wooden moulds inspired by ancient antiques and traditional Korean ceramics. Time dissolves in the hands of the weaver whose precious craft revives that of the Korean hat-makers who came half a millennium before her. With an emphasis on intricate pattern detail and transparent colour, she creates sculptural objects and relief wall pieces that are widely exhibited and have won multiple awards.

Kuo Duo
Hwachan Lee and Yoomin Maeng, who founded Kuo Duo in 2021 in Seoul, incorporate experimental elements into each of their
projects. They do so by using traditional wood treatment methods, for example, or more innovative recycled plastic methods. Striking a balance between the complexity of technical research and the simplicity of functionality, the studio designs and develops products, furniture, and spaces under the direction of designers with international experience. Their work ranges from industrial design (they collaborate with the Korean furniture brand Wekino), to limited editions and spatial installations, with the aim of expanding their own design typologies.

Minjae Kim
Minjae Kim, a 34-year-old Korean artist based in New York, designs furniture that acts as an antithesis to architectural practice (he has a degree in architecture) in terms of time, scale, and accessibility. His creations in quilted fibreglass, bamboo, and wood are like short sentences revolving around an idea.

niceworkshop
Based in Seoul, the studio explores the physical properties of industrial materials. Hyunseog Oh, 30, and Sangmyeong Yoo, 27, who trained in interior architecture at Soongsil University, are transmitting a new design language, overheard on building sites and translated for art galleries. Their first series of furniture, which forms an alphabet of this language, was inspired by fully threaded bolts. Their subsequent research led them to interaction and then to crafts inspired by nature, which they described as “neonaturalism.” Through their commitment to the reuse of industrial materials, new interpretations emerge.

Sisan Lee
Profiled by the trade press in 2020, Sisan Lee, 29, based in Seoul, creates sculptural furniture and lighting worthy of museum installations. Fascinated by the shapes of the stones he collected, he decided to let the stones determine the dimensions of his chairs and shelves. Combined with manufactured steel plates, the raw stones fulfil the desire for balance between nature and artefact. Rimowa and Hyundai have adopted this highly aesthetic approach.

WooJay Lee
Woojai Lee draws inspiration from the small, even ignored, details of our everyday environment (old paper, damaged walls) to make solid benches, pedestals, bricks and partitions. A Korean-New Zealander, he is a graduate of Dutch and Australian universities. Belonging to a foreign minority in the West makes him feel the beauty of silent presences, of what we don’t see. His work has been exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Saatchi Gallery in London, and is part of the permanent collection at the Schaudepot Lab, Vitra Museum in Germany. He works with COS, Nike and Uniqlo.

In Yeonghye
In Yeonghye grew up in the 1990s in Yesan, in the ambiance of her parents’ furniture shop. It was a playground where her mother, who has a degree in fashion design, gave her a penchant for making things by hand. Following this path, she obtained a master’s degree in industrial design (at Chungnam National University) and began working with textiles in an intimately personal way. For the past two years, while in residence at the Korean Crafts Museum in Cheongju, she has been expanding her textile practice by producing sewn drawings, furniture, and art objects. Using unique hand-sewing techniques, the artist moves away from the confines of functional structure to achieve a freedom of expression that is both liberating and comforting.

Maison&Objet 2025
January 16 - 20, 2025
Paris Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre

The Rising Talents Awards
Halls 5A&6

Photo: Proportions of Stone, Collection © DR. Sisan Lee