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Daily Maverick
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Maverick
A celebration of long-form: Inside one of SA's most remarkable anthologies
This magnificent anthology will surely emerge as one of the best books out of South Africa this year, if not this decade. I read The Interpreters: South Africa's New Nonfiction over a weekend, submerging myself in a well-curated set of non-fiction essays with excerpts from graphic novels added to the middle. It was like being in a hot tub at the edge of a beautiful forest. This is no exaggeration. In a time where social posts are my most ubiquitous form of writing and where I know that audiences read us for an average two minutes with a three minute read regarded as luxury attention, my love for long-form has not dimmed but it has been dunked in the realism of looking at audience data. And yet, long-form writing is flourishing as this collection of work from the past 30 years edited by Sean Christie and Hedley Twidle shows. I spoke to the authors about their opus of love and time. *** Ferial Haffajee: You write, amusingly, that the term non-fiction is about as much use as calling your clothes non-socks. At the end, this magnificent anthology still uses the term. Tell us how you thought about what to include and what not to include? Sean Christie: There is no escaping the umbrella term 'non-fiction', unhelpful as it is. Most of the pieces in this collection are examples of a form of journalism variously called literary, narrative, creative and long-form journalism, and initially this was the kind of writing we set out to collect. However, as you well know, word rates have always been much too low in this country for anyone to actually do this kind of work with any regularity, unless the writer has another source of income (to take nothing away from those few beautiful beings who take their subsidy from family life, the grocery basket and their own sanity). In that kind of writing, therefore, there is an element of privilege, and so we started considering additional modes: essays, memoirs, graphic stories and autofiction. We gravitated towards pieces that, we felt, could not have been done nearly as resonantly by another writer, where it seemed that serendipity was in play. Hedley Twidle: Yes we began with forms of literary journalism and social reporting, but ultimately expanded the anthology into a broader church of non-fiction writing, given that some pieces (like those by JM Coetzee and Julie Nxadi, for example) lie in the borderlands between autobiography and fiction. And because sometimes a personal or reflective essay (William Dicey on fruit farming, for example, or Njabulo S Ndebele on the game lodge experience) is the best tool for the job in rendering certain dimensions of experience, or for getting to hard-to-reach places within our country's complex social topography. Non-fiction as a term is, I think, both inadequate (since writerly techniques of realism, or making something appear real on the page, move constantly and promiscuously across the non/fiction divide) and indispensable (because deciding whether a story is truth-directed is one of the first-pass decisions we make as readers or listeners). Another way of saying this: the fact that it may ultimately be impossible to sort texts easily into fiction shelf versus non-fiction shelf does not mean that the divide doesn't matter. FH: Who and who not to include? Sean Christie: It was incredibly difficult to settle on a final mix. We had a long list, perhaps twice as many pieces as we ended up including, and all of them are excellent. We left out two extraordinary stories about murder, because we had already picked two brilliant murder stories, and having four would have made The Interpreters an even more sombre read than it is. We left out several highly polished pieces because they were clearly written for an international audience, which imposes a duty to explain South Africa to people who don't live here, putting quite a drag on the writing. Some have already noted the absence of a few big names in South African non-fiction, and there is a simple reason for this: a lot of the creative non-fiction that has been published in recent years has been in books, partly because we lack an outlet for anything between a few thousand words and 100,000 words. This has created a situation where authors who achieve success with books early in their careers continue doing books, and in their shorter works, if they exist, you can sort of feel that they are a bit at sea, or perhaps not really trying because it isn't priority work. Hedley Twidle: It was a very difficult but enormously enjoyable task reading across so much writing and making these calls. The thing with anthologising is that it's a very binary decision: the piece is either in or out. So we needed to have quite frank, forthright and bracing discussions (a bit different to academe, where one has to be more diplomatic). I hope The Interpreters breaks even because we've always had the idea of a second volume, one that goes back further in time and collects an even wider miscellany of essays and nonfiction, and also works in translation. I think what I respond to in the kind of nonfiction writing collected here is the directness, the immediacy. George Orwell, James Baldwin, John Berger, Arundhati Roy — writer heroes of mine who have this mesmerising quality of directness, and who are able to make political writing (which is different to politicised writing) into an art form. A mode of addressing the reader that makes you feel that there is a fierce will-to-truth operating (even though one of the ways that this manifests is a scepticism towards a single, overbearing Truth). Also: writing that trusts to a reader's intelligence — this is near the heart of it. Not writing that tries to ideologically browbeat you with the obvious. But rather writing that imagines a reader being at least as human and aware as the writer themselves. FH: This is a longstanding work – for how long has it germinated? Sean Christie: It has quite a long history. We have been friends since schooldays, and corresponded about books throughout our university years, including an eclectic mix of nonfiction, everything from Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space to Deneys Reitz's Commando. We were into the work of British psychogeographer Iain Sinclair, and his London Orbital, about walking London's M25 ring road, inspired a very precocious decision to move to Cape Town in the year 2002 or thereabouts to do something similar with the city's main road, which runs from the Cape Castle to Simonstown. We completely failed to write that book, but our encounters with contemporary South African nonfiction, and conversations about it, date to this time, which was a fecund time for creative nonfiction. In short order K Sello Duiker had published Thirteen Cents and The Quiet Violence of Dreams, both marketed as novels but clearly autobiographical to a significant degree. Jonny Steinberg had just published Midlands, and Chimurenga Magazine was launched, arguably the greatest ever South African experiment in non-fiction. Hedley Twidle: Yes, two decades in the making, at least. I received my most profound education about my native land from the work of non-fiction writers (which went far beyond anything that I encountered in formal education). Lewis Nkosi's agile and fearless essays on Johannesburg, jazz and exile. The confessional outpourings of Bloke Modisane's Blame Me on History and Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart. The passion and experimentalism of Antjie Krog's Country of My Skull and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela's A Human Being Died That Night. The intellectual nerve with which Jonny Steinberg set about some of the most difficult and dissonant subjects of 'the new South Africa' – farm murders, prison violence, HIV/Aids denialism. Mark Gevisser's biography of Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Dlamini's Askari, Ivan Vladislavic's Portrait with Keys… the list goes on. There are brilliant and momentous works of non-fiction in every direction, and in every genre. Sean and I have been discussing and admiring these for years, along with similar writing from the rest of the world. Compiling this anthology, as he put it, was the culmination of a long conversation. What a pleasure. FH: Is it 'new' non-fiction or is it generational — it is a work that seeks to 'cover' 30 years? Sean Christie: It is 'new' in the sense that most of the pieces were published after 1994. Creative non-fiction of the type we've collected in The Interpreters is strongly rooted in the American New Journalism of the 50s and 60s, which was a pyrotechnic reaction to what the writer Tom Wolfe called the 'beige tone' of newspaper journalism at the time. However, it never really caught on in South Africa, although some of the Drum magazine writers of the 50s and 60s were doing something similar. Context shapes literary traditions, and in South Africa of the '60s, '70s and '80s the media was both constrained by censorship laws and fixated with hard news — barren soil, in other words, for creative approaches to non-fiction, although some extraordinary pieces appeared from time to time, like Lin Sampson's profile of the photographer and bouncer Billy Monk, published in 1982 — the oldest piece we've included in The Interpreters, incidentally, not because it represents the start of anything, it's simply too good to leave out. In the '90s, some newspaper editors realised that the historical focus on pugilistic investigative reporting was a poor fit for South Africa's complex social and political transition, and started commissioning longer pieces. An important milestone was the Weekly Mail's 1995 series of long-form pieces by South African writers and thinkers, including Mark Behr and Antjie Krog. From around this time, there is a stronger flow of longer, more ambitious non-fiction pieces in South Africa's media, and it is really this period that we were interested in, and which we refer to as 'new'. Hedley Twidle: I also see it in some ways as not only a post-apartheid but also a post-TRC collection, in the sense that many of the pieces here deal with the unresolved, the unreconciled, the awkward and inappropriate elements of the past that persist (even as these interlock with the emergent, the new, the unexpected). I think that the 'new' also signals a body of work where the moral absolutes and clarities of the anti-apartheid Struggle give way to a more complex and confounding social and political terrain. Even in the piece that is most squarely about the TRC — the chapter by Antjie Krog, Nosisi Mpolweni and Kopano Ratele — you have the simultaneous interpreters who worked in the TRC hearings looking back on that process from a long time after, and reflecting on the (often squandered) promise and possibility that historical moment. It's moving to hear them speak about it from that kind of historical distance. FH: The writers you assemble are magnificent. There are the big names, but also new writers. How did you find their work? Sean Christie: We started by writing down those pieces we've read in the last 25 years that we keep returning to, and these pieces formed the core of the collection. We then went crowdsourcing among the country's community of non-fiction writers, sharing our list and asking, what have we left out? Bongani Kona was very helpful in directing us to several brilliant pieces we had not encountered before, as was Bongani Madondo. We owe a lot to them. Hedley Twidle: Again, we drew on a large archive of reading and discussions over many years. Sean has a great deal of experience as a journalist and consulted many editors and writers from that world; I brought in my research on and teaching of South African literature for many years at UCT. But yes, we received so many pointers and suggestions from so many people. People were very generous. WhatsApp voice notes flew back and forth for months… FH: In my world, journalism, there is little appetite for literary journalism any longer — either by journalists or by the audience. And yet it is beautiful, meaningful and creates meaning and knowledge more than any number of social posts, blogs or breaking news. What are your thoughts on this? Sean Christie: In an era of clickbait, churnalism, listicles and AI-derived snackable content, it is important to prise apart, and talk about, different forms of truth-telling, and to recognise writing that actually teaches us something about this country of ours, in which, to quote Rian Malan, 'mutually annihilating truths coexist completely amicably'. Take, for example, recent news stories about South Africa's Afrikaner 'refugees', or the outing of that chap who was posting misinformation about South Africa. What did we learn from these news stories, and the thousands of op-eds they spawned? That we are an angry, divided, mistrusting people. Now, had someone bothered to do an intuitive long read about these refugees and their motivations, or a nuanced, humane profile of X-Boer, perhaps we would have learned a thing or two about ourselves. We seem to be stuck in loops of righteous indignation and confirmation bias, and good creative non-fiction is an antidote to that. Hedley Twidle: I want to add that the voices in (and contributors to) this book go far beyond just the names on the contents page. So many of the pieces come alive via the voices and stories of others: people the writer is talking to, interviewing, responding to, thinking of, quoting. Alexandra Dodd's piece on The Spear controversy is a good example: it is a dense mesh of voices, including those from social media and (to give just one example) a Facebook post by the artist Senzeni Marasela. It is one of the most powerful responses to the Zuma presidency that I have ever read; and now it is remembered, preserved and printed within Dodd's piece. I think also how warmly and deftly Mark Gevisser renders the voices of 'Edgar' and 'Phil', two gay Sowetans, in his piece 'Edenvale'. There are so, so many interlocking voices that make up this anthology: it is truly a polyphonic book. FH: How would you like this work to land in the world? It is a gift of love and a work of life. Sean Christie: Internationally, there has been a resurgence of interest in long-form, and we believe the audience appetite for this kind of writing is very much alive and gurgling in South Africa, and that even within the crushing budget realities local media face, there are possibilities, especially to foreground voices at the limits of the Anglosphere. We are hoping that people will read these extraordinary pieces, which have been retrieved from old newspapers, discontinued magazines, journals and personal blogs, and be left thinking, more, I want more! Hedley Twidle: I'm so glad that you consider it a product of love, because that is exactly what it felt like: a love for courageous use of the written word, in all the forms that this takes. DM
Korea Herald
15-06-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Shinsegae's beauty gambit: Chicor rivals Olive Young in tourist hubs
South Korean retail giant Shinsegae Group is making a bold return to the cosmetics scene through its beauty select shop brand Chicor, aligning closely with the latest waves of K-beauty. A new flagship store is set to open in Seoul's bustling Gangnam district -- not just a relocation, but a complete reimagining following the closure of its previous Gangnam branch. Chicor aims to make a striking impression by stocking more than half of its 5,000 products from Korean brands. This marks a significant pivot from its previous strategy, which favored foreign imports by a margin of 70 percent, a shift as much cultural as it is commercial. The Gangnam flagship, for its part, aims to offer a multisensory experience, inviting shoppers to sample textures and experiment with color in immersive, hands-on spaces. Exclusive brand partnerships, sourced through Shinsegae International's global network, will help set the retailer apart, the company explained. As one industry insider noted, the rising popularity of K-beauty has likely prompted the company to move away from its traditional focus on luxury foreign beauty products. Launched in 2016 as a curated showcase of everything from niche imports to cult-favorite middle-market brands, Chicor once bloomed into 30 locations until the pandemic clipped its wings. Chicor's resurgence was set in motion following Chair Chung Yoo-kyung's promotion late last year, which catalyzed a broader realignment across Shinsegae's beauty operations. Formerly housed within Shinsegae's broader sales division, Chicor now reports directly to CEO Park Joo-hyung. Park, speaking at the company's shareholder meeting in March, called for the creation of a 'new standard' in K-beauty retail, even as he acknowledged the road so far had been rocky. According to Park, who noted that Chicor's operating losses had been halved from the previous year, the key lies in rebalancing the product mix. 'Chicor was long anchored by luxury offerings,' he said. 'But we've worked to broaden the portfolio and place K-beauty at the forefront.' In a consequential turn, the move sets Shinsegae on a collision course with CJ Group's Olive Young, the undisputed leader in Korean beauty retail. Today, Chicor's footprint has contracted to 19 stores, with annual sales hovering around 100 billion won ($73 million), a figure dwarfed by Olive Young's sprawling 1,370 locations and 4.8 trillion won in revenue last year. And yet, Shinsegae's distinct approach to curation may well ruffle Olive Young's feathers, particularly as it sets its sights on tourist-heavy districts like Myeongdong and Hongdae to entice foreign shoppers with exclusive brand offerings and pop-up theatrics. At its Hongdae location, for instance, increasing the proportion of K-beauty brands such as Melixir and Nonfiction, from 40 to over 60 percent last October led to a marked uptick in international sales, with monthly revenue surging more than 90 percent year-on-year. 'We plan to continue expanding Chicor's footprint in areas with high tourist traffic, with K-beauty leading the charge,' a company official said. Shinsegae is said to be exploring additional store openings in areas like Myeongdong and Dongdaemun, ahead of the upcoming launch of its new flagship in Gangnam. Alongside efforts to refine its beauty platform, Shinsegae is charting a deeper structural push into the industry. According to industry sources, Shinsegae is reportedly weighing a financial investment in a private equity fund managed by Ascent Equity Partners, which last month signed a 285 billion won deal to acquire a 40 percent stake in local cosmetics manufacturer C&C International.
Hamilton Spectator
09-06-2025
- General
- Hamilton Spectator
Woodstock, N.B, writer wins Writers' Federation of New Brunswick nonfiction award
Keith Helmuth 'honoured' to be recognized for Tappan Adney book Woodstock's Keith Helmuth was all smiles as he accepted the Writers' Federation of New Brunswick Award for Nonfiction for 'Tappan Adney: From Birchbark Canoes to Indigenous Rights.' The book, published by Goose Lane Editions and Chapel Street Editions in October 2024, details the life and legacy of Tappan Adney, who is credited with saving the art of birchbark canoe construction through his writing and building miniature replicas. 'I felt the Tappan Adney biography had a good chance of winning, but when I heard my name called out, I had a deep sense of satisfaction that all the years of work that had gone into making this an important and well-written book by a number of people was being fully recognized,' said Helmuth, in an email to the River Valley Sun. He wrote the book with Ted Behne, James Wheaton, Daryl Hunter, and Nicholas Smith. The book accounts for Tappan Adney's multifaceted impact on history and culture. Adney is an artist, writer, and advocate for Indigenous culture, with a fascination with birchbark canoes, which started after meeting Peter Jo, a Wəlastəkwi Elder-craftsman, in 1887. That meeting sparked a lifelong dedication to documenting Indigenous canoe designs and preserving the Wəlastəkwey language and traditions. His contributions extended beyond canoe craftsmanship; he was also a journalist, illustrator, and defender of Indigenous rights, introducing the 1725 Peace and Friendship Treaty into Canadian legal discussions. By winning the award, Helmuth hopes the book will become better known nationally and even internationally, expecting more people to appreciate Adney's vital role in preserving cultural heritage and defending Indigenous rights. 'It was the goal of everyone who worked on this book to make Adney and his achievements more well-known and appreciated,' said Helmuth The Carleton County Historical Society has a room dedicated to Adney in the Connell House Museum. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Tatler Asia
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Tatler Asia
Where to shop Korean beauty brands in Seoul: your ultimate insider's guide in 2025
Unmissable luxury Korean beauty brands Above The Sulwhasoo boutique in Dosan Park, Seoul The Whoo Inspired by royal court beauty rituals, this LG-owned prestige house uses traditional ingredients and decadent packaging. The Cheonyuldan collection is especially sought after for its firming, radiant finish. Sum:37 This fermentation-focused label has a loyal fan base for its Secret Essence and Time Energy lines. Developed through natural aging processes, the formulas target stressed, dehydrated skin. O Hui Another luxury beauty brand by LG, O Hui combines dermatological R&D with indulgent textures. Its Prime Advancer De-Aging Ampoule Serum and The First Geniture range are bestsellers for their glow-enhancing effects. Hera A go-to for Seoul's modern women, Hera fuses innovative sun protection, cushion compacts, and trend-led colour. Its Signia luxury skincare line is also well loved among beauty enthusiasts. Sulwhasoo The pioneer of modern hanbang beauty, Sulwhasoo's hero products include the First Care Activating Serum and Ginseng Renewing Cream. Its mix of heritage, efficacy, and aspirational branding makes it an icon within the K-beauty sphere. Fragrance finds: Korean scents to know Above Inside the Granhand store in Bukchon, Seoul Granhand A Seoul-based perfumery that focuses on small-batch scents inspired by natural elements and Korean culture. Each boutique is styled like a minimalist studio and offers personalised engraving. Nonfiction Also featured later in this story, Nonfiction deserves double mention for pushing the boundaries of Korean perfumery. The brand's scent names—such as Santal Cream and Forget Me Not—reflect quiet storytelling and emotional depth. Tamburins Beyond skincare, Tamburins has made a mark with its perfume balms and newly launched eau de parfums, blending artful fragrance composition with sensuous packaging. Read more: The rise of Korean perfumes: 7 brands to explore on your next trip to Seoul, South Korea Luxe beauty experiences Above The Heritage room at Sulwhasoo's flagship store in Seoul The Shilla Duty Free (Jangchung-dong) Located within the five-star Shilla Hotel, this upscale duty-free emporium is where you'll find luxury Korean skincare giants like Sulwhasoo, The History of Whoo, and LG's high-end brands under one roof. Expect exclusive gift sets, concierge-level service, and a tax-free shopping process tailored for international travellers. Sulwhasoo Flagship Store (Dosan Park) A destination in itself, the Sulwhasoo flagship in Apgujeong offers more than just product browsing—it houses an in-house spa, skincare consultations, and a traditional tea lounge. It's an immersive beauty-meets-wellness stop for those looking to indulge. While you're there, try the TUS Moon Jade Hand Service. It combines Sulwhasoo's high-end TUS line with a moon-shaped jade applicator to deliver a fuss-free and holistic hand treatment service. Shinsegae Department Store (Main Branch, Myeongdong) This sprawling luxury department store blends Korean and international beauty in an opulent, well-lit setting. The beauty hall is particularly strong in premium K-beauty, including Hera, Sum:37 and O Hui. Indie brands and hidden gems Above The Mixsoon flagship store in Myeongdong, Seoul Mixsoon (various boutiques) With its minimalist packaging and single-ingredient ethos, Mixsoon has captured the interest of skincare purists. The Centella Asiatica Essence is a quiet cult hero—and much cheaper in Seoul than online. Amuse (The Hyundai Seoul) Playful but efficacious, Amuse is all about dewy textures and sheer pigments. Its lip tints and cushion compacts are TikTok favourites, and the store's interactive displays make it fun to explore. Millford (various locations) An emerging name in Korea's clean beauty scene, Millford is gaining recognition for its gentle formulas and elegant aesthetic. Its Green Ampoule and Barrier Relief Cream are favourites among beauty insiders seeking sensitive-skin-friendly luxury. Conceptual beauty ateliers Above The Tamburins boutique in Hannam, Seoul Tamburins (Garosu-gil) Created by the team behind Gentle Monster, Tamburins' flagship is part gallery, part fragrance lab. Known for its Tiger hand creams and sculptural packaging, the space evolves seasonally with immersive art installations. A must-visit for design-minded shoppers. Hince (Seongsu-dong) In a district known for creativity, Hince offers a gallery-like makeup space where colour is treated as creative expression. Its pigment-rich Mood Enhancer lipsticks are favourites, and the studio often hosts collaborations with artists and stylists. Nonfiction (Garosu-gil) This fragrance-focused brand has built a cult following for its literary approach to scent. Its flagship boutique functions as a mood-driven library of emotions. Try Gentle Night, inspired by Seoul's twilight hours. Neighbourhood shopping itinerary Above The famous shopping streets of Myeongdong, Seoul Myeongdong Once overrun by tourist buses, this central district is enjoying a comeback. It's ideal for big-name flagships (Innisfree, Etude House, Laneige), plus Olive Young's biggest location. Tip: go in the morning to avoid the crowds. Apgujeong-Cheongdam The Apgujeong–Cheongdam area is home to the city's most prestigious flagships such as Sulwhasoo, Hera Boutique Spa, and premium department stores like Galleria, as well as dermatology clinics, luxury salons, and high-end concept stores. The district creates an immersive beauty journey through the country's most prestigious offerings. Garosu-gil This tree-lined street in Sinsa is perfect for curated, boutique-style shopping. Here, you'll find Tamburins, Hince, and chic multi-brand concept stores. Expect influencer-style interiors and limited-edition exclusives. Seongsu-dong Often called the Brooklyn of Seoul, this hipster enclave is where the next wave of indie brands tends to launch. Look out for pop-ups, concept cafes, and hybrid retail spaces.
Korea Herald
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
K-perfume in bloom: How Korea's scents are redefining beauty
The global obsession with K-beauty shows no signs of slowing down. What began as a cult fascination with cushion foundations and 10-step skincare rituals has now bloomed into a multi-billion-dollar export industry. South Korea's cosmetics exports soared to a record $10.2 billion in 2024, accounting for 76.1 percent of the total domestic. But beneath the glossy sheen of BB creams and sheet masks, another wave is quietly rising — this time, it's perfumed. While Western fragrance houses like Dior, Jo Malone, and Chanel have long dominated the olfactory scene, a new class of Korean perfume brands is carving out its own identity. With roots in storytelling, minimalist design, and a deep understanding of emotional connection, these emerging labels are scenting the path forward for what many are calling the next evolution of K-beauty: K-perfume. Among the names turning heads — and nostrils — is Deacoutre, a Seoul-based perfume collection founded by Vicky Jung. Alongside it, brands like Nonfiction, Tamburins, and Granhand are gaining traction both domestically and abroad. Vicky Jung, an art director turned perfumer, describes scent not just as a product, but as a portal. 'Fragrance is a special language of preserving memories, of anchoring emotions in time,' she said in a written interview with The Korea Herald. 'We remember scents more deeply than we remember faces or words. That's why perfume matters — it lingers, even when everything else fades. It can transform a space from something seen to something felt.' Indeed, while makeup may perfect a look and skincare may promise radiance, it's the fragrance that often delivers the soul. A single spritz can transport the wearer to childhood summers, first loves, or the humid forests at dawn. This emotional weight is exactly what led Jung to launch her own fragrance label, Deacouture, in August 2024. After years of exploring the relationship between space and sensory experience, she came to see scent as the final, invisible layer of design. 'Space is energy,' Jung said. 'And scent is what brings that energy to life.' "Korean perfumes are still in their early stages," Jung noted, "but interest is growing fast both at home and abroad. The challenge is standing out in a world where France has a centuries-old fragrance heritage. But I believe our strength lies in poetic subtlety, in evoking mood and memory, not just making a statement." As more Korean consumers grow attuned to the nuances of fine fragrance and younger generations seek individuality over mass-market appeal, the stage is set for K-perfume to bloom — not as a shadow of Western tradition but as its own, fragrant revolution. Local brands. Tamburins and Nonfiction, now have international branches worldwide from Tokyo, Japan to Shanghai and Bangkok. Having famous celebrities advertise — Tamburins has recruited Jennie from Blackpink and actor Byeon Woo-seok — the brand has expanded its customer base to those who are familiar with K-pop and Korean content. And with TikTok and other social networking services presenting new spaces for even newcomers to make an impact, many brands are aiming to connect with customers by subtly evoking an emotional response. For instance, Grandhand focuses on conjuring up delicate emotions and a sense of atmosphere to describe the scent of their products. A sip of whiskey in front of the fireplace. A wild forest with no human trace, a burnt firewood scent seeped deep inside the clothes, rough coat and footwear, sharp tools and an expectation that I can make anything with these things. The pleasure you feel when you handle those rough and dangerous tools are different feelings than the pleasure you feel when you get recognized by society or by being rich. The pleasure derives from a basic instinct. Grandhand promotional script As K-perfume finds its footing on the global stage, it brings with it more than just alluring aromas. It carries a story — of place, of personhood, of possibility — bottled with care and ready to be worn, remembered, and shared. Jung sees this moment as a turning point. 'K-beauty succeeded not only because of product quality, but because it became a cultural symbol. That same potential exists in fragrance,' she said. 'With deep storytelling, rooted design, and a sense of emotional truth, K-perfume can become an experience that transcends trends.' To win over global audiences, Jung emphasizes the importance of crafting more than just a scent. 'The brand must be the experience,' she said. "We need to offer a narrative that's timeless, elegant, and emotionally resonant." She believes the future of fragrance lies in personalized, sensory-rich experiences that go beyond conventional spritz-and-go. 'Perfume will evolve to become a bridge between people and space, between memory and imagination,' she said. "And Korean brands, with our heritage and sensitivity, are well positioned to lead that journey."
