Hip Tradition trendy for MZ generation

A small “museum” was set up at the center of a department store building amid leading beauty and accessories brands. This is the pop-up store for ‘(MU:DS),’ the product brand of the National Museum Foundation of Korea. The store will be held on basement floor 1 of the Lotte Department Store in Jung-gu, Seoul, until June 6. Around 26 types of 10 souvenir items, including miniature figures of the Gilt-Bronze Pensive, Joseon white porcelain, and Shilla clay figurines, were fully stocked in the store, which covers 132㎡. It is the first time to showcase Korean museum items at a department store.

Hip Tradition, which refers to the creation of new trends by adding hip and trendy features unique to the MZ generation, is becoming quite popular with the younger generation. Souvenirs are no longer simply designed for display, they are designed into everyday items such as glasses, watches, pouches, umbrellas, and mobile phone cases.

According to the National Museum Foundation of Korea, which designs and sells cultural assets owned by national museums across the country, sales of cultural asset-related souvenirs continue to grow from 3.8 billion won in 2020, to 6.6 billion won in 2021, and 11.7 billion won in 2022, which was the highest since the launch of the foundation in 2011. The wireless mobile phone charger shaped like a tray and made of mother of pearl and the device case for Goryeo Celadons were very popular, almost going out of sale as soon as they were launched.

The National Museum Foundation has been accepting items for cultural asset souvenir items from private sector companies for more than 10 years. In the first half of 2023, 798 items were submitted from 154 companies. “This is the largest we’ve seen over the last 10 years. With miniature pensive statues becoming steady sellers, we have seen growing inflow from aspiring designers,” said Kim Mi-kyung, who leads the Product Planning Team of the Foundation.

“People in their 20s or 30s go beyond viewing exhibitions at museums, they like to bring what they’ve seen in their daily lives,” said Kim Byeong-hee, professor of Advertisement and PR at Seowon University.


always99@donga.com