Golden Print [EN]: Chapter 275

Woojin knew designing a convention center was a big challenge. He was good at buildings, but this was different. Someone had said that exhibition design was not the same as just building a space, and they were right. It was like the difference between making a beautiful house and making a stage for a play. Houses need to be comfortable to live in. Exhibitions need to tell a story. Luckily, Woojin knew a little about this ‘story’ part. He had studied interior design before becoming an architect. Interior design was about making spaces feel a certain way, which was closer to exhibition design than just building walls. When Minseon spoke, Woojin listened carefully. Her words about design felt very true to him, like she understood something important.

Woojin listened, really listening. Minseon leaned forward a little, her eyes bright. ‘It’s all about the story, isn’t it?’ she asked, more to herself than to Woojin, but looking at him to see if he agreed.

Woojin nodded, a slow, thoughtful nod. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘exactly. Without a story, design is just… empty. It needs a story to make it breathe, to make it alive.’

When they started talking about design, something changed in Minseon. Before, she had seemed quiet, almost shy. But now, her voice became stronger, and her eyes sparkled. ‘I don’t know much about buildings,’ she said, ‘but for exhibitions, the story is everything. It’s even more real than in architecture, I think.’

Woojin leaned forward, interested. ‘More real? How?’ he asked.

Minseon thought for a moment. ‘Well,’ she said, ‘it’s like… the most important thing is the story you can’t see, the one hidden inside the exhibition itself.’

Woojin frowned slightly. ‘Hidden story?’ he repeated, wanting to understand.

Yes!’ Minseon nodded eagerly. ‘Of course, my own style matters, what I think is beautiful. But first, I have to show the visitors the beauty and the story that’s already *there*, in the exhibition itself. That’s the real job.’

‘I see,’ Woojin said slowly, starting to understand. ‘Every exhibition has a reason, a point. Like selling something, or showing art…’

Woojin was completely absorbed in Minseon’s words. His eyes were fixed on her, and he leaned closer, as if afraid to miss anything. He imagined grabbing a pen and paper to write everything down, forgetting about being polite or looking cool. He thought aloud, trying to understand. ‘So, for a fair selling new phones, the design needs to shout, “These phones are amazing! You need them!” to everyone who walks by?’

Minseon smiled, her eyes bright. ‘Yes, something like that!’ she said, clapping her hands together with a soft, excited sound. ‘And for an art show, say, paintings by a famous artist… it’s like taking the artist’s own story, all the feelings and ideas they put into paint, and turning it into a language everyone can see and feel, just by walking through the exhibition.’

Woojin nodded, thinking hard. ‘So,’ he said slowly, ‘to do this ‘translation’, you need to know the artist’s story first. You have to understand what they were trying to say, right?’

Minseon smiled and nodded. ‘Exactly.’

Woojin paused, then asked, ‘But… who tells you that story, Minseon? Who translates it for *you*?’

Minseon chuckled, a warm, friendly sound. ‘Well, usually, it’s the artist themselves! They tell me what they want to show, what’s important to them.’

She then became a little more serious. ‘The hardest exhibitions are for artists who are gone. Because then, there’s no one to ask.’

‘What do you do then?’ Woojin asked, curious.

Minseon’s eyes seemed to look far away for a moment. ‘I try to become them, in my mind. I ask myself, if I was that artist, what story would I want to tell? What would I want people to see and feel?’

This conversation, Woojin realized, was exactly what he needed. He hadn’t come just for design tips. He wanted to understand the *world* of exhibitions. And listening to Minseon and Seokho talk was like opening a door to that world. After a while, Woojin turned to Seokho. ‘Hyung,’ he asked, using the Korean word for older brother as a sign of respect, ‘did you two work together back then?’

Seokho nodded, a smile spreading across his face. ‘Yeah, that’s right. Must have been… two years in the States? I was just starting out, a complete beginner.’ He chuckled, a little embarrassed.

Minseon rolled her eyes at him, but there was a hint of a smile on her lips too. ‘When I joined the museum,’ Seokho continued, ignoring Minseon’s look, ‘I’d been there about five years. It was a time when both I and the museum were trying to grow, to become something bigger.’

‘Oh, it was *terrible*,’ Minseon interrupted, but her voice was fond, not angry.

Woojin looked from one to the other, his eyebrows raised in question. ‘Terrible? Why? Too much work?’ he asked.

Minseon nodded quickly, her eyes wide. ‘Crazy amounts of work. Every day was overtime, weekends didn’t exist. I learned so much, it’s true… but if you asked me to do it again? No way.’ She shuddered dramatically, and Seokho laughed. As they started to share stories about those hard but exciting times, Woojin listened, picking up details, piecing together a picture of their lives.

Listening to them, Woojin started to see how wrong he had been. He had thought curators planned the exhibitions, and designers just built the spaces. But it was much more mixed up, much more interesting. Curators had ideas about space, and designers had ideas about the art and the story. It was a real partnership. He thought about the Coex Living Fair he had worked on. He and the CEO had tried to do everything – the space, the design, the whole concept. If they had had someone like Minseon then… he imagined how much better it could have been, how much more powerful the exhibition could have been. He leaned forward again, eager to hear more. ‘Minseon,’ he said, his voice a little more serious now, ‘you must have worked in lots of different exhibition halls, right?’

Minseon paused, thinking back. ‘Hmm, not *that* many, maybe six or seven properly.’

‘Wow,’ Woojin said, impressed.

‘And if you count the short-term fairs and expos, maybe more than ten,’ Minseon added. ‘Why do you ask?’

Woojin smiled, a genuine, curious smile. ‘Because,’ he said, ‘I want to know… as an exhibition designer, what’s the best exhibition hall you’ve ever worked in?’

Minseon’s eyes widened slightly. ‘The *best*?’ she repeated, thinking.

‘Well,’ Woojin pressed, ‘every space is different, right? Some must be better for exhibitions than others. Is there one you really prefer, as a designer?’

Minseon looked thoughtful, then a small smile touched her lips. ‘Are you… planning to use this for your convention center design?’ she asked, a hint of amusement in her voice.

‘Of course,’ Woojin said quickly. ‘I want to learn from the best.’

Minseon and Seokho both thought about Woojin’s idea.

The convention center Woojin planned to design was much bigger and more flexible than the art museums they usually worked on.

Still, their experience could help him.

The *clink* of spoons against plates was the only sound for a moment. Their food, now cool from their long talk, sat forgotten. Minseon finally put down her spoon, her brow furrowed in thought. She looked up at Woojin.

“Okay,” she said slowly, “first thing is, it *has* to be a great place for art shows, right? That’s a given.”

“That’s a given.”

“The exhibition hall I liked the most was… the Anaheim Convention Center in California, USA.”

Woojin blinked, surprised. *A convention center?* he thought. *I expected her to talk about an art museum.*

Woojin listened quietly as Minseon continued.

“The Anaheim Convention Center is small for an American exhibition hall.”

“But it’s still bigger than Korean exhibition halls, right?”

“Probably bigger than COEX, but smaller than KINTEX?”

“Ah.”

“Actually, I haven’t seen *many* big exhibition halls, so I don’t have *that* much to compare it to, but…”

Minseon paused for a moment before speaking again.

“The biggest reason I liked it was the variety of the space, I think.”

“Variety of space…”

“It was an exhibition hall where I could try out really diverse spatial designs as an exhibition designer.”

Woojin asked, looking interested.

“Really?”

“There are flat, open spaces, as wide as a football field, and there are also atrium-like spaces with several floors open vertically…”

“Oho.”

“Besides, the spaces felt connected.”

“What do you mean by connected?”

“Even though the spaces were different, you could easily walk from one to another. They felt connected, not separate.”

“Ah.”

“Should I say it was an exhibition hall where designers had a lot of choices?”

Minseon and Seokho kept talking.

The story was so interesting that they spent over two hours on lunch.

Of course, they didn’t just talk about exhibitions.

Minseon also had many questions for Woojin, so Woojin told them his stories too.

When they left the restaurant, Minseon was smiling, her eyes bright with ideas. Seokho was laughing at something Woojin had said. Woojin himself felt a buzz of excitement.

“Why don’t you come up for a moment and have another cup of tea before you go?”

“Didn’t you say you had a meeting this afternoon, Chief?”

“Haha, there’s still about an hour left. If you two have time, I’d like to show you around the company…”

“Great! We’d love to, of course.”

“Hey, aren’t you going to ask for my opinion?”

“Why are you like this? You were going to see me for dinner tonight anyway.”

“…”

“Oppa, you can go to Wangsimni first. I have to see the WJ Tower today.”

“Wow, Yoon Minseon is amazing…”

Woojin led the bickering pair along and gave them a quick tour of WJ Tower.

He took them around the high-rise area, which ordinary people couldn’t visit.

This was also a kind of investment.

Woojin had a bit of a hidden reason for inviting Minseon.

‘If she’s a freelancer with IEA, she’s not tied to any company… Maybe I can hire her…’

WJ Studio currently handles almost all parts of spatial design.

Because of this, they sometimes got small exhibition design work. If they could hire Minseon, they could also grow the exhibition design part of the company.

‘Well, I’ll have to think about it while getting advice on this project.’

After touring WJ Studio and having coffee in the CEO’s office, the two left WJ Tower in a good mood.

“Come visit again next time, you two.”

“Really? Is that okay?”

“If you contact me in advance, anytime.”

Woojin, who had learned a lot from the two, was just as happy.

“It was fun today, Woojin. I don’t know if it was helpful.”

“Haha, of course it was very helpful, Hyung. Thanks to you, I think today’s meeting will go well.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Hehe. Thank you.”

Seokho added one more thing to Woojin before leaving the building.

“By the way, Woojin.”

“Yes?”

“You haven’t forgotten that you’re going to build my art museum soon, have you?”

He reminded Woojin again of his promise to let him design his art museum.

“Of course. But… soon?”

“What do you mean soon? It’ll be a long time before this Oppa builds an art museum. Don’t worry, Chief.”

“Hey, a long time? It’s really soon now!”

“I’ve been hearing that for three years now, three years.”

Woojin, who had said goodbye to the two, immediately went into the meeting.

“Okay, is everyone ready?”

“Yes, Chief.”

“Shall we start then?”

Thanks to the ideas he got from the two, the meeting went very smoothly.

‘Good. I’ll finish the reference check by the end of this week… and if I go on a field trip next week, I can start designing in earnest.’

New challenges always bring new energy.

Maybe that’s why Woojin looked more energetic today than ever.