Lie Sang Bong's Hangul Spirit

The Korean writing system Hangul has been given a fashion and design tribute at the Korean Cultural Centre in London with their new exhibition "Hangul = Spirit". The exhibition opened on Tuesday, feting the past collections of Paris-based designer Lie Sang Bong, with a mixture of static mannequins and models parading the sculptural fashion feats that Bong has created over the years. Whether the pieces took literal inspiration from the Hangul characters or not, a variety of pieces from Bong's archive of work were on display. The S/S 08 Oskar Schlemmer's Triadisches Ballett' inspired collection, heavy with plisse and colour gradiations. Complex triangular pattern cutting in the S/S 09 collection. Then directly relating to Hangul, Bong's S/S 07 monochrome collection awash with inky Hangul character strokes. By his own admission Bong didn't use Hangul for the sole sake of his own cultural affirmation: "Since 2006, we have found the beauty in the aesthetics of Hangul. So we just use it simply for its beauty. Also it's not that the collections are completely composed of Hangul as we mix it up with different elements."

Unexpected elements like Isadora Duncan, Cubism, film noir heroines, Napoelon and Empress Josephine, all of which seamlessly weave in and out with Bong's Korean identity: "It's not always easy to mix the European and Korean elements but through all these different inspirations, we try to make them work in our collections." The label "McQueen of Korea" Bong so often is attributed with, was especially poignant during the presentation of Bong's A/W 09 collection, a well executed collision between East and West: "Whilst we incorporated Korean elements  - like the paintings, the tiger print - the mood was really dark, he was inspired by 1980s bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division."

On the subject of the lack of Korean faces on the international fashion scene, and with Seoul Fashion Week having just completed its run of shows, Bong is confident that this will change: "In truth, I don't know why there are so few Korean designers who make it over to the West. Korea is the 11th economy in the World but it is a strange that there are so few Korean designers who participate in the global fashion scene. However I think there will be more people coming forth in the future."

"Hangul = Spirit" at the Korean Cultural Centre, Ground Floor, Grand Buildings, 1-3 Strand, London WC2N 5BW on until May 16th