top
Postapocalyptic scene: "The new Generation, after Tsunami" by Gentle Monster in Chengdu, China.

RETAIL
Brave new world

The Gentle Monster label has created installations that seem to be from a completely new world – to present its glasses collections.
by Anna Moldenhauer | 11/13/2018

Gentle Monster is the name of a glasses brand from South Korea. The unusual name is actually a declaration on the product range as you soon see on stepping into one of the branches that have now opened around the world: Each assigned to a specific overarching theme, creatures seem to grow out of the floor and form a cordon, framed by beautiful kinetic installations. With their mechanical movements they go about some unknown and unspecified task and simply leave you puzzled – their rotations, jolts and contortions are as fascinating as they are bizarre. The glasses, which arise in part in collaboration with designers such as Marcel Wanders or couturiers Alexander Wang and Henrik Vibskov, are thus almost confined to the wings and you often only spot them at second glance in the elaborate structures.

Gentle Monster in Singapore: "Samsara" is inspired by Nietzsche's philosophy of salvation, in which one can only find salvation by overcoming oneself as a super-human.

Founded in 2011 by Hankook Kim in Seoul, the company devotes immense effort to presenting its products in truly theatrical settings. The experimental fantasy worlds are spatial explorations that by means of creatures that appear to be aliens nevertheless present very human realities: From the endless repetition of everyday routines through to the visualization of sadistic character traits, Gentle Monster translates its critique of society into hand-made, abstract objects. Buying glasses thus becomes an experience for most of your senses and leaves a lasting impression.  

"Frogism" is the theme of Gentle Monster Shanghai and freely thematizes sadistic characteristics in abstract objects after George Orwells's "Farm of the Animals".
"Laundry" is the motto of the flagship store in Daegu, South Korea and criticizes society about the topic of forgery.
Singapore Store "The data addicts"