December 2023

Classic but Trendy

Kim Minkyu spent his childhood in Ulsan. His parents made their own makgeolli, but his interests focused on buildings because he saw architecture as a more complete art. Upon becoming an adult, he entered New York¡¯s Cooper Union (a private college) and majored in architecture. During his vacations, he worked part-time jobs in Korea, Kim gifted the makgeolli his mother made to colleagues. They loved the taste and suggested that he actively commercialize it.

Kim wanted to provide the world with the enjoyment his mother¡¯s liquor had given people in his village. Kim established Boksoondoga, along with a firm goal: to modernize makgeolli. That was because he wanted to move away from makgeolli¡¯s branding as traditional to something that could be widely enjoyed in Korea and abroad.

At the time, however, the alcoholic beverage industry had not attempted to change the perception of traditional liquor. Kim¡¯s challenge was almost a first for the industry, so Kim faced difficulties in the early stages of the business. ¡°When I explained makgeolli to people, it was easier to do so to foreigners than Koreans. They didn¡¯t have any preconceived notions. Koreans had prejudices about makgeolli, considering it was a liquor for farmers, and was cheap. I concentrated even more on branding and marketing to overcome these prejudices.¡±

Thanks to his efforts, his family¡¯s makgeolli had a completely new image. The new makgeolli was changed in several ways: Its bottle looked like one used for champagne and a variety of package labels created a suitable level of harmony between the blank space and fonts, along with emotive photos taken by a professional photographer. Typically, makgeolli bottles have a small groove inside the cap to release gas, but Kim didn¡¯t do that on his bottles. He wanted to show off the uniqueness of his product as a champagne-like makgeolli with plentiful amounts of gas. Kim continued his innovations in the sales of his product. Kim opened a store on KakaoTalk, Korea¡¯s most popular messenger app, and even started an early morning delivery service for the Seoul Metropolitan Area.

Kim¡¯s efforts to modernize traditional liquor still adhere to one thing: fermentation. Boksoondoga makes its own yeast and matures liquor in the traditional way by placing the yeast in a 70-year-old pot. The maturation process takes 25 days in the summer and around 30 days in the winter. It is totally different from typical makgeolli, which uses a yeast called ipguk and is matured for 60-70 hours in stainless steel. ¡°I don¡¯t think that factory-style production of makgeolli is a bad thing. But in order to maintain the traditions of Boksoondoga created over the past three generations, we have to adhere to the fermentation process, which is central to our product.¡±

Boksoondoga has created an appropriate mix of traditions and modernity in its products. People immediately fell in love with the company¡¯s makgeolli. Boksoondoga makgeolli was featured in various official dinner banquets in Korea and abroad, including at the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit, a summit between the Korean and Vietnam presidents in 2022 and so on.

Crafting the Future

Kim has succeeded in promoting makgeolli and now wants to promote Ulsan, where Boksoondoga is located, in the wider world. That¡¯s why he creates a map featuring Ulsan using his own money. He conducts exchanges with the local government¡¯s tourist department and also posts content about Ulsan on Boksoondoga¡¯s promotional channels. ¡°People think of Ulsan just as an industrial city. However, Ulsan was originally famous for its natural beauty. So, I wanted to promote what makes this area special as much as possible. If it becomes popular, Korea will have a stronger cultural power.¡±

Going forward, Kim dreams of turning fermentation into a cultural item. The fermentation process changes organisms into something useful for human beings. Kim says that we can use the perspective of fermentation to make things beneficial for our lives. That¡¯s why Boksoondoga is trying to make lifestyle products that are helpful for people¡¯s lives. ¡°I hope that Boksoondoga becomes a brand that leads the way in promoting the concept of fermentation. Fermentation culture is so broad that even I have difficulty in clearly defining everything that can be included in it.¡±

Boksoondoga¡¯s journey to create a new culture around fermentation may soon go into overdrive. The company has been exporting its makgeolli to Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, and next year it will market its products in Paris, France. Boksoondoga is preparing makgeolli suited to the tastes of foreigners along with export-ready makgeolli that has a longer shelf life. Korea¡¯s traditional liquor and its fermentation culture will soon spread through the world thanks to Boksoondoga. There¡¯s no more welcome sight than to see the entire world enjoying makgeolli.

The Birth of Fe01

The CEO of Ulsan Fe01, Kim Hoo Cheol, spent his youth in Gabon, a country in Africa. He sculpted rocks as a way to pass his free time there and became captivated with African art. On his return to Korea, he worked to promote trade and tourism to Gabon and imported African art to open up a museum. When he found it difficult to earn money this way, he even started an accessories business. Later, however, he became sick due to overwork.

Kim looked back at where he had come and found himself thinking first and foremost about the value of friends. His thinking placed importance on the fact that money is not important and that even if money is an issue, it is important that one does everything by themselves. He also thought of his children. But he didn¡¯t remember the faces of his children because his frequent business trips and busy schedule prevented him from meeting them often. Thinking that ¡°this is not right,¡± he quit everything he was doing that very day. Kim aimed to seek out true value and spend time with his children.

As luck would have it, Kim had recently watched the movie ¡°Transformers.¡± Inspired by the urge to make a robot just like the ones he saw in the film, he went to a nearby junkyard to gather scrap metal and create a piece of art. After that, as he made a wide variety of artwork, he got the idea to ¡°use my artwork to create an instructive and fun place for kids.¡± His goal included the value of his African friends and his love for his children. Four-and-a-half years later, Fe01 was born.

A Place for All

Fe01, which is the first space created with metal (Fe), is a cultural space containing around 1,200 works of art made out of scrap metal spread over 9,900 m2. The artwork in Fe01 is made exclusively out of scrap metal as a way to create awareness among visitors about the ¡°issue of our planet¡¯s environment.¡± However Kim has given ample opportunity to visitors to enjoy the space he¡¯s created. ¡°Fe01 is made out of scrap metal, and each piece of work was created through planning, but that isn¡¯t information given to visitors. There are no explanations on the artwork. That¡¯s intended to have children use their imagination to the fullest, rather than get trapped in the explanations. For example, one child might see an alien and call it a crested newt, while another child might see the same thing and call it an earthworm. I think the best thing for them to do is interpret what they see by themselves and look past the artwork to use their imaginations.¡±

Fe01 is a fun place for kids but is also fun for adults. Visitors in their 50s or older will find there are lots of things about Fe01 that they can enjoy. They are greeted by main characters from comics and movies popular from their childhood, all of which have been recreated by Kim. ¡°When older people visit here, they always tell me I did a lot of hard work. They¡¯re showing respect for my efforts, but they¡¯re probably also expressing the fact that we connected through past memories or our values.¡± As this shows, Fe01 is loved by everyone because its founder has considered every kind of visitor and the Earth¡¯s environment.

Facing the Future Together

Kim formed a relationship with Ulsan 5 years ago. Before he built Fe01, he sought out a place to build his workshop and then found himself in Ulsan. At the time, he was pleased with Ulsan¡¯s culture, environment, and everything else, so he settled down in the city and fell in love with it. Now, Kim believes that Ulsan is a ¡°place that creates dreams of the future.¡± His future includes not only his own, but also that of the city. ¡°I¡¯m planning Fe02 to be built in Ulsan. Its theme will center around dinosaurs and the Earth¡¯s environment. I also plan to create cultural content that is exclusive to Ulsan. People view Ulsan as boring because of its image as an industrial city. If you go to other countries, however, they create festivals with nothing more than deserts. That¡¯s why I want to develop a culture exclusive to industrial Ulsan that can mesh with steelmaking companies.¡±

Kim wants to head into the future with this city. His moves in that direction have already begun at Cape Ganjeolgot, which is the first place the sun rises in the morning. Over the past year and two months, Kim has made 114 pieces of art themed on Ulsan and dinosaurs along with 22 other artists. The overarching theme is that ¡°a new city is created by dinosaurs that have been given strength from Ulsan¡¯s sun.¡± The small village Kim has created will illuminate Cape Ganjeolgot over the next five years. Anticipation is already rising about the nooks and crannies of Ulsan that will be illuminated thanks to his efforts.