SEOUL DESIGN AWARD

In today’s fast-paced culture of digital consumption, people have become more accustomed to buying and discarding than to making and using. This habit deprives them of opportunities for creative immersion and emotional healing, while causing negative consequences on education and the environment.

The NowART KITs project, developed in Korea, seeks a remedy using modular paper embroidery kits as an interface. Made from recyclable and biodegradable card stock and thread, it invites users to a slow, tactile handcrafting process, thus, encouraging discovery of importance of creative activity of handicraft and use, while adhering to the practice of resource circulation.

The project’s main goal is to design a unique system for learning in crafts. For example, much like LEGO allows for diverse combinations, these kits use needles and thread to explore mathematical concepts such as coordinates, symmetry, and patterns. The kits stimulates creativity, spatial awareness, and logical thinking, while embroidery provides a medium for personal storytelling and emotional restoration.

The social impact is an equally important goal it focuses on. In a culture steeped in one-time consumption, the project emphasizes the renewed value of repeated creative activity. Composed only of card stock, thread, and simple tools, it produces minimal waste. As an alternative to digital leisure, it offers sensory immersion and psychological stability, making it suitable for a wide range of users, including children, the elderly, and children with developmental issue. Also ideal for implementation in schools, libraries, and welfare centers, the kits serve as catalysts for community participation and emotional healing.

Looking ahead, the project aims to expand into a community-centered sustainable creative platform through collaboration with the education, environmental, and welfare sectors. Digital guides will link offline sensory experiences with online learning, and partnerships with cultural and educational institutions at home and abroad will position it as a civic education tool. Beyond a single product, NowART KITs envision growth into a design brand that embodies social value and ecological sensitivity through continued research into sustainable materials and the development of a social enterprise model.