Vol.126_1000V
1000V
from Seoul, South Korea.
-
Interviewed by Oh Jiyoung
Photography offered by 1000v
Please introduce us the brand “1000V.”
Volt sister created the brand in the meaning of "Voltage 1000V feels stingy the first time you see it," in Seoul, South Korea. It is a smart fashion for people who are new and who pursue their individuality. 1000V does not have the barriers in gender, race, and nationality.
How did you first start the brand?
It was not our intention to do collection. We are blood sisters. Each of us had professions in different fields – Fashion and graphic design. While we were learning these subjects more in depth, we had this desire of making clothes that we completely want to wear. So we were like ‘Should we just design them on our own?” and the that’s how this brand started. But then we started to have bigger ambitions. We originally wanted to create 4-5 pairs of clothing, but we ended up doing more than 20 pairs. We are very ambitious and we are both perfectionist so as we learned how to create lookbook, we dealt with objet, 3d printing and leather crafting too. As we were challenging into new fields, we learned much more and that really helped forming the direction of 1000V.
What characteristics does 1000V have, different from other brands?
We still have a lot more to show but we are focusing on fresh, new fashion solely focused on design and quality. Our brand is fearless and very daring in its selection of color.
1000V have presented two seasons, what is the most difficult part of producing so far?
We keep looking for the materials that we really like, from zippers, tag, buttons and decorations. The most difficult part is to set the price since we have put so much time and have spent a lot of budget in the process of perfecting the outcomes. Especially when the fabric itself is very high quality and even the decorations, we cannot help but to raise the final price and that is when we really have to think. It takes way more time than you can imagine when we make our imagination come true. So I would say the slow-paced work progress is also something that makes us a bit frustrating.
What message do you want to deliver through 1000V?
We want to let people know that 1000V involves fashion, various fashion. You can easily think that brands like ours are only worn by specific group of people, but we want to change that thought. We really hope that whenever you walk streets in Korea, you see more variety of fashion, not those clothes with dull, achromatic colors with just simplest designs. We aspire our brand to inspire other people in a lot of ways.
Could you tell us the pros and cons of leading the brand as DUO(blood-sisters)? I think there will be pros and cons working as family as well.
I think the biggest pros is that we can emotionally lean on each other with full trust when we go through hardships when dealing with business. We sometimes argue over smallest things by being rude each other as sisters but our personality is more like indifferent about those things, so it is okay.
It was quite interesting when I saw “Are you satisfied with your daily routine?” menu under “ABOUT” category. I am very curious about your daily routines as directors and designers. Oh! And that if you are satisfied with your every-day too.
Our day-to-day life is always hectic. We try to challenge as much as possible since our seasons comes out a bit late. It could seem peaceful on the outside, but we try to make this and that all the time. We are always busy because there are so many things that we do not know yet. We also have part-time jobs and we never really had the luxury of enjoying free time ever since the second season. Ironically though, in contrast to the category that you pointed out, our days are fully booked and busy. But we are satisfied. Because we are so happy that we are pursuing fashion and it is so much fun.
What do you see, feel, and experience in Seoul?
In Seoul, you can get to experience various types of cultures in such a small radius. It is very interesting to visit different villages every time. We do get inspired a lot when we first go to certain towns that we have never been. They all have different characteristics even though they are all located in Seoul. But, we often feel very unpleasant by the polluted air and smoke.
What characteristics does 1000V have, different from other brands?
We still have a lot more to show but we are focusing on fresh, new fashion solely focused on design and quality. Our brand is fearless and very daring in its selection of color.
What are you interested in these days?
Many things. I think we are always interested in culture-related contents as we are in design industry. We are interested in books of different fields, music, movies and art. Recently though, Eunyoung is interested in science books, new papers and photography and Minkyoung is interested in Spanish-eggplant pasta in this vegan café she goes to. World is full of inspiration really. It is most thrilling to capture and imagining through the things that we see.
How would you like to finish this year of 2018?
We would like to charge up our energy for next season first. We want to complete our design and be ready for next year so that people can be surprised by 1000V with exclamation points