In 2011 Hankook KimKorean founded GENTLE MONSTER. An eyewear brand established in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Kim’s filled a gap in the eyewear industry, when he discovered that eyewear had been engineered to the Western facial structure and, according to Kim, South Koreans desired to have small faces. When GENTLE MONSTER started to provide designer glasses with low bridge noses, found a gap in the market that was ideally tailored to the specific and nuanced needs of the typical Asian consumer.
GENTLE MONSTER’s eyewear is essentially made from metal and acetate, with very intricate and compplex designs and colours season after season. Their retail spaces combine striking visual merchandising with conceptual themes and stands alone in the industry with this strategy. Kim wants to create an exhibition-like effect and, just as the products change, so do the environments in which they are presented.