Tom Büschemann
South Korea’s culture scene is booming and Seoul is steadily establishing itself as a regional and increasingly global hotspot for design, fashion and music.
Our guest for this episode, Tom Bueschemann, is a household name in the Korean creative scene. Originally from Germany and now based in Korea, he is the co-founder and CEO of Platoon, a creative network that brings together designers, artists, movie directors, photographers and other creative minds.
In Korea, Platoon is arguably best known for its Kunsthalle, an art space in Seoul’s Gangnam neighborhood that has become a social and cultural landmark. It provides a platform for hip crowds, young artists and changemakers from all horizons, while hosting communication events for some of the world’s major brands.
Tom kindly agreed to talk to us about Seoul’s artistic and cultural ecosystem, and how he and his business partners decided to set up shop in Korea almost a decade ago.
For us, the Koreans were the Italians of Asia. Lifestyle, fashion, food, good-looking, funny — we liked the sense of humor, which was very important for us because humor is something we care for […] And last but not least, we met the right people from the beginning […] Cultural players, brand players, artist players, government/institutional players, they all wanted to support us and so in the end it was pretty easy to decide: let’s do it in Seoul and not in Tokyo and Beijing. And last but not least: I mean 2006, 2007, there was nothing in Seoul […] We felt extremely that the city needs a project like us.
The interview was recorded on October 19th in Seoul.