Designer Interview: Ohyun Kwon (Gute Form)

Pudding 005.008 - A quick interview with designer Ohyun Kwon about his relationship with design and music.

1. Describe your current role as a designer.

OK: I run the studio Gute Form together with my wife… So, my current role is (and prob always was) ‘designer’.

2. Describe your relationship with music today and in the past.

OK: I started playing the guitar in middle school & my mum described it best when she said: “I always had to tell Oyun (my younger brother) to keep practicing more piano & with Ohyun it was always like: “please stop playing guitar.” So, it was definitely love at first sight. Before I was always drawing, but when the guitar came I hardly drew. I think that “love” came from loving music a lot. Then listening to it just didn’t do it anymore, so imitating/trying to imitate it was the next step to take.

I started with playing all the rock bands like Guns n’ Roses, Metallica, U2… but the biggest impact to me was when the whole skate-punk scene came up… it must have been the same feeling for other generations when they heard the Velvet Underground, the Ramones, or the Beastie Boys and I felt inspired, because with those punks songs I was like: “oh… I can do that too… I can write a song like that too…”, while before it was always like: “how/where would you even start to come up with the intro to ‘Sweet Child o’mine”? It seemed so far away & unreachable… and when I went to the High School Battle of the Bands and there were two groups who wrote songs just like Bad Religion I was like: “I must do this…”

So, actually I ended up playing in both of those bands, but little did I know, that I love music & playing guitar, but being in a band is work… Work that I don’t like: there are always assholes (mostly singers), lots of fights, playing shows was a hassle… So, being in a band is like cool for 2-3 weeks, after that I feel it’s a big pain in the ass (at least for me)…

Fast forward to now: I still play guitar/bass/drums regularly… like 2-3 times a week & of course I love it, just doing it for myself (and pretending I am on stage)… I think doing music as a hobby is probably the best thing ever, while doing it as a job might be the worst thing ever.

3. What designer do you think is most like a musician?

OK: Virgil Abloh maybe? I think he worked like a DJ… taking bits and pieces from here and there and creating something new… and I kind of think that every creative person is doing this (more or less)

4. What musician is most like a designer?

OK: … from musicians I think it would be Brian Eno… that dude is a genius… I am 100% sure he would have made a great designer if he had gone that way. 

5. What is the most influential piece of record art you've encountered?

OK: There are a lot… but if I had to pick one it must be the cover for Aphex Twin’s “Windowlicker EP”… apparently designed by Designer’s Republic, but they didn’t put it in their book (published by Unit Editions)… so I think the front cover was prob done by Chris Cunningham (the music video director)… but even the backside design is awesome.

6. What kind of music do you usually listen to when working?

I mostly listen to podcasts or YouTube videos when I work… unless a new album came out I MUST listen to it… the latest one was Drake’s “For all the dogs”… the album was actually quite alright.

7. If you could have a "intro" song for when you come into the office or studio, what would it be?

I think that changes a lot… but for now I would love to come into the studio with “Bring it on down” by Oasis playing super loud. 

8. What are you listening to these days?

A couple of days ago we had a meeting and acs.kr came up (as a venue for an event)… and I went to their Instagram and they have awesome posters (and shirt designs)… There I came across a Taiwanese hardcore band called Toxic Bald and their sound sounded so fresh & cool that I am these days looking into getting a Gibson SG (the guitarist is playing one & I always loved the shape/sound)… but that’s the cool answer… The uncool answer is what I listen to these days on the way to work: Oasis.

Thanks Ohyun for chatting with us.

Signing off…