These five design studios embody a new kind of American Dream
Hailing from India, Vietnam, Korea, China and Poland, these creatives represent a new generation of global creatives that consider the US a meeting point of creative minds
By Aditi Sharma, Reeme Idris, Diana Budds
Artists and designers the world over continue to choose to make the US their home. As the latest newcomers in this ‘nation of immigrants‘ join a crowd of inspiring locals with dual heritage, their varied experiences help shape creative America. To celebrate the country’s role as a meeting point of creative minds, we look at the plurality of voices contributing to its enduring crucible of culture and dynamism. We speak to five studios – whose founders (all Wallpaper* US400 honorees) have roots in Poland, Vietnam, India, South Korea and China, but who have made the US their creative base – about how their heritage influences their output.
Seoul-born, New York-based designer Minjae Kim discovered the US on an exchange in high school. After studying painting and architecture, and a stint of military service back home, in 2008 he travelled to Seattle to continue his studies, later moving to New York for a Master of Architecture at Columbia University. He spent three years at Studio Giancarlo Valle, then started his own practice from the basement of his old apartment during the pandemic.
His debut in 2021 at LA design gallery Marta catalogued Western typologies, such as a chair adapted from Freud’s personal study. These were objects that differed from his understanding of the world, and he made them his by remaking them – for example, by treating fibreglass like cloth, quilting it before coating it with resin. Text by Reeme Idris
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