At 10 a.m. on the 8th in Gahoe-dong, Jongno District, Seoul. After walking about three minutes up an alley from the entrance to Bukchon Hanok Village, a serene hanok with a wooden porch appeared. After taking off shoes and stepping inside, the floors and walls in the hanok's signature brown and white harmony came into view. Throughout the interior, various pieces of furniture suited to a hanok—sofas, beds, and dining tables—were softly illuminated by sunlight.
This is a "public hanok linked to Mirinae House," created for newlyweds through a collaboration between lifestyle platform Ohouse and the Seoul city government. Seoul city said in Apr. last year that it would supply hanok Mirinae Houses for newlyweds and recently began recruiting the first residents. The exterior retains the traditional hanok form, while the interior is remodeled in a modern style, with rents set at 60% to 70% of market rates. A total of seven units are supplied, including six in Jongno District and one in Seongbuk District.
Among these, Ohouse, through its in-house brand "Ohouse Layer (layer)," took part in the interior styling of Hanok No. 1 in Gahoe-dong and Hanok No. 2 in Gyedong, both in Jongno District. A representative of Ohouse said, "The Seoul city government proposed the collaboration first, and we decided to participate because the hanok's restrained aesthetics and nature-blended structure seemed to align well with the spatial interpretation approach of the Ohouse Layer Studio."
The furniture and accessories installed inside the public hanok styled by Ohouse are all products from Ohouse Layer and the select shop "Binary Shop." Every displayed product has a blue plus (+)-shaped QR code tag; scanning it with a phone camera takes users directly to the product detail page in the Ohouse app, where they can check detailed information.
An Ohouse representative said, "We focused on maximizing the strengths without damaging the structural characteristics of the hanok," adding, "We minimized furniture placement so as not to block the windows that open on all sides, and we centered the composition on furniture that does not obstruct the line of sight to suit the low ceiling height, maintaining a sense of openness and ease in the space."
Starting this year, Ohouse expanded and integrated its in-house brands—previously split into Layer (layer) and Basic (kibon)—under "Ohouse Layer." The goal is to advance the brand structure and operations so customers can more intuitively understand and choose Ohouse original products. To that end, Ohouse Layer organized three sub-lineups—Basic (Basic), REFINE (refine), and Studio (studio)—differentiating price and materials and segmenting products to fit customers' shopping purposes.
Alongside this, Ohouse has continued efforts since last year to expand offline touchpoints with customers. The aim is to overcome the drawback that size and color of furniture and accessories sold on Ohouse are hard to gauge with only photos and videos online.
A representative example is the permanent offline showroom "Ohouse Bukchon," which opened in Bukchon, Seoul, in Jul. last year. The showroom, spanning four floors including three above ground and one below, exhibits various interior cases: rooms designed directly by Ohouse, spaces recreating popular users' rooms from the platform, collaboration spaces with external brands, and spaces spotlighting specific categories.
Bukchon is a cultural and artistic commercial area where tradition and modernity coexist. It draws many domestic and foreign tourists. Through the off-house, Ohouse aims to naturally spread "K interior" culture while strengthening its position as a global lifestyle brand.
This public hanok collaboration with the Seoul city government is also part of efforts to expand offline touchpoints. Ohouse presents guidelines for a range of furniture and accessories that harmonize with hanok and provides information so that if visitors find a product they like, they can immediately check it on the Ohouse mobile app.
An Ohouse representative said, "We hope newlyweds considering moving into a public hanok will tour the space in person and draw inspiration for a new lifestyle," adding, "If there are meaningful public housing projects with the Seoul city government in the future, we plan to participate consistently."