Seoul’s fashionistas will get a preview of what’s hot and in for the fall/winter season next week when the 2013 F/W Seoul Fashion Week kicks off on March 25.Some 75 shows will be presented by both established and up-and-coming designers during the week-long celebration of fashion.Some of the leading designers participating include Lie Sang Bong, Gee Chun-hee, Chang Kwang-hyo and Song Zio, while 12 young designers will present their innovative designs and creativity at the “Generation Next” shows

Arts & Design March 20, 2013

Foreign chefs from top hotels in Korea will hold a charity dinner next week to raise funds for a local charity, as part of their long-time wish to give back to the Korean community. Five executive chefs from Starwood chain hotels in Korea will be in charge of making the dishes for the six-course charity dinner on March 28 at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill. About half of the proceeds will be donated to the Beautiful Foundation, a Korean charity organization that helps underprivileged children, th

Culture March 19, 2013

Daemyung Resort opened a five-star hotel in Hallyu World, a theme park for Korean cultural content currently under development in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, on Wednesday. The resort company unveiled the second property of the luxury hotel brand MVL Hotel on Monday, following the opening of the first MVL Hotel in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, last year. “MVL Hotel Kintex is the first five-star hotel in Ilsan. We expect the hotel will be an ideal place for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing a

Travel March 19, 2013

Hermes Korea has selected three artists as finalists for the 2013 Hermes Foundation Art Award. Na Hyun, Noh Sun-tag and Jung Eun-young were chosen from among 10 artists by a five-member judging committee, which consists of Korean and foreign art experts including Ute Meta Bauer, dean of Royal College of Art, and Guillaume Desanges, artistic director of La Verriere in Belgium.  The three artists are expected to come up with new work with support by Hermes Foundation, and exhibit their works at A

Performance March 19, 2013

A children’s book published by a Korean company won the Ragazzi Award at Bologna Children’s Book Fair, the top award of the prestigious annual event in Bologna, Italy. The picture book, titled “Eyes,” written and illustrated by Polish author Iwon Chmielewska and translated into Korean, will be announced the winner in the fiction category of the 50th Bologna Children’s Book Fair next week, according to Changbi Publishers.  The jury of the award said the book “creates an indissoluble bond between

Culture March 17, 2013

A strange noise comes from the hall, traces of footsteps are marked on a wall and a ghost family covered in white curtains greets visitors. Those who have visited haunted houses at amusement parks may find some common spooky features of a haunted house at the “French Haunted House,” an exhibition created by a group of French artists and a curator in Seoul.  “While I was (looking for) a theme for the exhibition, I learned about Korea’s shamanism. I did some research and read books and thought it

Performance March 17, 2013

MAIPU, Argentina ― Ten minutes in the orchard and already my hands felt raw. How do they do this all day without gloves, I wondered, shuffling my feet for a better foothold in Argentina’s sandy clay.It was Thursday, the day we’d expected to be tasting wine at the Zuccardi family’s finca (ranch) and winery, in Maipu, Mendoza Province. Instead, we were clawing through a tangle of branches, trying to pick enough olives to feed Zuccardi’s state-of-the-art olive oil press.It looked so easy when Torey

Travel March 15, 2013

The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea presents a bold selection of young Korean artists at the regular exhibition introducing young talent. In an effort to break away from the institutional authority of the museum, The NMOCA has exhibited young Korean artists’ experimental spirits in this way since 1981. “The young artist exhibition has produced some of the internationally acclaimed Korean contemporary artists such as Suh Do-ho, Choi Jeong-hwa and Lee Bul. The exhibition will continue t

Performance March 14, 2013

The warm spring breeze and flowers put people in a good mood and perhaps evoke thoughts of spring romance. Fittingly, a love-themed art exhibition is opening at Seoul Museum on March 14, or White Day, a romantic day celebrated in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea where men give presents to women in return for what they received on Valentine’s Day. Love has always been a major theme for movies, art and music. The museum, which opened last year in the northern part of Seoul, has combined romantic movi

Performance March 13, 2013

Start your morning routine by waking up the kangaroos, then swimming with dolphins and sea lions in the middle of the day, and finish your day checking the water temperature of the sea ― that’s all it takes do one of the “best jobs in the world.”Tourism Australia is offering six “best jobs in the world” to young people around the world that pays $100,000 under a six-month contract, plus exciting and life-changing opportunities for young people struggling in the economic downturn. Tourism Austral

Travel March 8, 2013

AROSA, Switzerland ― When on the road with small children, parents have the formidable task of leading them to experiences of surprise and joy that are mixed with security, balance and comfort. That is why, for our ski vacation this year, my wife and I chose to bring our toddler, Ryan, to Arosa, a winter resort in the Swiss Alps. Reached either by train or a famously twisting mountain road, Arosa has traded on its relative inaccessibility to make itself into a genteel and engaging family destina

Travel March 8, 2013

Fashion designer Lie Sang Bong presented his fall and winter collection during Paris Fashion Week on Wednesday. The collection, with motifs of Korea’s traditional “hanok” houses, presented works featuring geometric patterns and an Oriental brushwork motif that set the minimal tone of the collection. “I thought over and over how I would reinterpret the traditional Korean house hanok for my collection. I hope my small effort reminds people of the beauty of the Korean house,” said Lie. Bright color

People March 8, 2013