Pour a cold drink into a MU:DS scholar glass and the figure’s face turns red. The figure comes from Pyeongan Gamsa Hyangyeondo, a painting in the National Museum of Korea’s collection, while a temperature-sensitive pigment gives the glass its changing color. 1
MU:DS is the National Museum of Korea’s cultural merchandise brand, and its name combines the words “museum” and “goods.” 21 The glass offers one answer to a design question behind the brand: how can an image from a museum collection become part of an everyday object?
From collections to objects
The National Museum of Korea Foundation plans and produces merchandise based on artifacts and operates museum shops. Its work draws on heritage content from the National Museum of Korea and 13 regional national museums. 1
The objects take different approaches to their sources. Weekly Chosun describes pensive bodhisattva miniatures, moon jars made into door chimes, and keyboards inspired by dancheong. 3 The original artifacts remain objects of preservation and research; the merchandise adapts their forms or stories into things people can use or display. 3
For a new exhibition, MU:DS planners hear from curators about its concept and the artifacts that carry its key message. 1 The planners then develop merchandise from that interpretation, giving an exhibition idea a form that a visitor can take away. 1
A sculpture made to sit nearby
The pensive bodhisattva miniature began with a question about which artifact represented the National Museum of Korea. Museum curators generally pointed to the pensive bodhisattva, an example of Buddhist art from Korea’s Three Kingdoms period. 1
The miniature was released in December 2020, after about four years of planning and production. 1 It predates the MU:DS brand itself, which was established in January 2022 after an internal naming competition. 1 Its development team made several test versions to find a size that would sit naturally nearby, and initially used vivid colors including red, purple, and yellow. 1
The color choices changed as the project continued. Ivory and gray proved more popular than the bright primary colors the team had expected to sell well. 1 In November 2021, when the museum created a space for displaying its pensive bodhisattvas, the miniature was renewed in pastel tones. 1
A later series took a more playful approach to the figure’s pose. Planned for the 20th anniversary of the museum’s opening in Yongsan, it changed the hands to show gestures such as a thumbs-up or a heart made with both hands, expressing feelings including encouragement and love. 1
Changing those hands gave product director Kim Mi-gyeong pause. She consulted two curators who had long studied Buddhist art; both told her that the changes were acceptable because they did not alter the figure’s essence. 1
A painting at the table
The scholar glasses follow a different route from collection to product: they were selected through a regular MU:DS open call in 2023. 1 Rather than reproducing the painting as a whole, the design borrows its scholar figures and gives their faces a new role on drinking glasses. 1
The detail waits for a cold drink: temperature-sensitive pigment turns the scholars’ faces red as it is poured. 1
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