Asian brands bring fresh style and function to London Design Festival

The twelve-year-old London Design Festival gets bigger and better every year. With more than 300 events to visit in 2014, it presented an exciting challenge to both the design aficionado and uninitiated visitor, who had to work out how best to enjoy the conceptual ideas and ingenious design that made up the terrain of the event.

Asian creativity was scattered all over town this year and South Korean designers, high on the Hallyu cultural wave, made their mark at events such as 100% Design and Tent London.

One of those was Been Kim, of Beeeen+Company, who has already made a name for herself with DrinKlip, a spring-loaded plastic device that allows cups and jars to be attached to tables and shelves. More recently, she has been busy reviving Korean traditional methods and materials, and casting them in a new light.

Kim's range of stationery (including passport holders) is created from a handmade paper coloured with lacquer tree and vegetable oils.

The material, which is water- and heat-resistant, has antibacterial properties and emits an appealing all-natural resin scent, has been used in Korea for more than a millennium as flooring in homes, temples and palaces.

"It is very rare to find this paper now, since Japanese colonisation and the Korean war devastated our country," says Kim.