Incheon City is promoting a project to create a nuclear stone sculpture park and a handbag museum at the cultural park site planned within Districts 6 and 8 of Songdo International City.
On the 8th, Mayor Yoo Jung-bok of Incheon signed a business agreement on this matter together with sculptor Kim Chang-gon and Park Eun-kwan, chairman of Simone. Sculptor Kim Chang-gon and Chairman Park Eun-kwan are alumni of Incheon Jemulpo High School and are respectively a distinguished artist representing Incheon and a successful entrepreneur.
The city plans to first receive a donation of over 100 nuclear stone sculptures, including 50 large-scale works made from massive nuclear stones weighing up to 300 tons from sculptor Kim Chang-gon, to create the park.
In particular, the height of the large works ranges from 4 to 18 meters, surpassing the scale of Stonehenge in the UK, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and are known as highly original and contemporary works that combine primitivism and modern technology. Nuclear stone is granite that has been weathered and eroded over a long period, changing into a rounded shape, with the shaking rock of Seoraksan Mountain being a representative example.
The city also plans to exhibit various types of bags, from rare pouches from the 1500s to the latest 21st-century handbags, by receiving a donation of a handbag museum from the bag manufacturer Simone. Previously, the Simone Handbag Museum opened in Gangnam, Seoul in 2012 but is currently not in operation.
Chairman Park Eun-kwan, who founded Simone in 1987 with a capital of 100 million won, has built it into a globally renowned luxury handbag manufacturing company producing 20.8 million handbags and 9.2 million wallets annually. The high-quality luxury handbags, made with craftsmanship, have broken through the Italian stronghold in the luxury industry, capturing 10% of the global luxury handbag market and 30% of the U.S. market.
Incheon City plans to establish the sculpture park and handbag museum at the cultural park site within the INEX development project area in Songdo Districts 6 and 8, and will further detail the development plan through consultations with donors and related organizations.
Mayor Yoo said, "I hope Songdo will emerge as a unique cultural city through the donations of these two individuals," adding, "We will do our best to ensure that the nuclear stone sculpture park and handbag museum project proceeds swiftly."
Chairman Park Eun-kwan and sculptor Kim Chang-gon responded, "Incheon is where we were born, dreamed, and grew up, and we have always held our hometown in our hearts," saying, "If this small donation can contribute to the development of Incheon City, nothing would be more rewarding."
Interior view of the exhibition hall of the Simone Bag Museum, which opened in 2012 in Gangnam, Seoul but is no longer in operation [Photo provided by Incheon City]
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