Promotion: design festival Seoul Design returned to the city's Dongdaemun Design Plaza this month with a 10-day programme of exhibitions and events, offering a survey of South Korea's design landscape.

Under the theme of Valuable Life, the event aimed to explore how designers and brands can help to forge a sustainable future.

Between 24 October and 2 November, Seoul Design 2023 presented 20 different programmes, including exhibitions, the DDP Design Launching Fair, the Seoul Design Conference and a makers market with more than 300 stalls – the largest in the history of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza.

Most notably, the festival brought together young designers, makers and companies, pooling their knowledge to create a range of innovative products.

The results were on show as part of the Corporate + Young Designer Brand Exhibition, which saw students from nine different South Korean design schools paired with 13 different companies including the BMW Korea Future Fund and Korean beauty giant Amorepacific.

Among the resulting products was a hair care tool that works with existing hair products, a range of products made from automobile waste and refill stations for reusable products.

Meanwhile, collaborations between designers and small business owners were on show as part of the DDP Design Launching Fair, featuring 60 different products including an accessories tray that combines aluminium processing techniques with precision design.

Elsewhere at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Japanese architect Shigeru Ban exhibited a version of his disaster housing module Paper Log House, adapted for South Korea's particular environmental and material context.

Another project that sought to use locally available materials is the Zero Waste Pavilion designed by South Korean architect Ehwa Yoo using waste materials from three local materials manufacturers – Kujung Maru, Hansol Paper and Hansol Home Deco.

In addition to the main festival hub, more than 200 venues across the city including shops and cafes participated in the event as Seoul Design Spots, in a bid to transform the entire city into a design festival.

For more information on Seoul Design, visit the festival's website.

The photography is by Lee Jemin.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Seoul Design 2023 as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.