The British Council recently commissioned UK designers, including Michael Marriott, to create a culture-led regeneration project in Gonju city, South Korea. The result is a community café, open until November, which merges resourceful design with traditional Korean craftwork.

In an age of over consumption and dwindling natural resources, designers in the UK are questioning their role and their relationship to society. There is an increasing emphasis on creative use and the preservation of resources, rather than an urge to create the new. The Happiness for Daily Life project represents this new sensibility.

The village café/shop is central to everyday life in rural towns and villages across the UK; in Happiness for Daily Life a village café was created as a metaphor for a re-imagining of the process of design production and the infrastructure of distribution and consumption. It presents a different understanding of resources, utilising historical Korean craft techniques alongside contemporary design to create a vibrant and dynamic café environment.

Four UK designers undertook residencies at the National University of Cultural Heritage (NUCH) to create a series of design commissions. Each of the designers has responded to their surroundings in Gongju in ways that involve the use, repair or representation of local resources. This result will engage new audiences and participants in this methodology of resourceful design. The Happiness for Daily Life café presents a distinctive quality of place, a design which is truly unique to Gongju.

The cafe is open until November 14th.

Read Michael Marriott's blog about Happiness for Daily Life here, michaelmarriott.com/writing/HappinessTxt/

For more information see, britishcouncil.org/arts-happiness-for-daily-life.htm