[Report] "Thought It Was Wood, But It's Steel Plate"... 'Cheolgang Geonchukjae' Gaining Attention in Interior Design

Dongguk CM Color Steel Plate Specialized Construction Hub 'Doseong Center'
Processed with Steel Plate Building Materials Made in Busan
Realizing Volume That Preserves Wood Grain Texture
"Providing the Best Products with Premium Branding"

"We chose this color with confidence that it can maintain its current hue even after 10 or 20 years."

On the 7th, we visited Dongguk CM Doseong Center in Dangjin, Chungnam. Park Young-jun, head of the Luxteel Solution Team at the company, pointed to the bright yellow exterior covering the entire building and said, "The entire building is made of ‘Luxteel’ architectural material," adding, "We used yellow, which is the fastest to discolor among organic dyes, to demonstrate that the original color can be preserved even after many years."

Luxteel digital printing steel plate (wood grain) made of the center's interior wall. It is steel plate, not wood. Provided by Dongguk CM

Doseong Center is a specialized processing and construction hub for color steel plates that Dongguk CM produces as premium color steel plates called Luxteel for architectural materials. When steel plates painted with desired colors arrive from Busan to Doseong Center, they are bent or thickened here to be made into building materials.

Luxteel is easy to process like wood and highly durable, allowing the reproduction of the color and texture of natural materials without environmental damage. The interior of Doseong Center perfectly replicates the texture of wood, giving the impression of a ‘woodworking shop.’

Interior view of Doseong Center reminiscent of a woodworking shop. Photo by Dongguk CM

Dongguk CM had already entered the architectural materials business 10 years ago. Considering that forming and construction could be difficult without a deep understanding of Luxteel, they decided to enter the metal processing industry directly.

Here, only shaping work is done to form Luxteel into architectural materials without any post-processing such as coloring. However, shaping requires very meticulous work. For interior building materials like line panels, steel plates must be bent at consistent intervals front and back, and even a slight error can cause gaps between products not to align perfectly.

Park emphasized, "Usually, silicone is used to connect interior materials, but from a designer’s perspective, silicone, which may discolor, interferes with the appearance," adding, "To avoid using connecting adhesives, each product was precisely designed to connect structurally in an ‘open joint’ form." To realize such precise products, Dongguk CM imported all automation machines from Switzerland.

Thanks to these efforts, Dongguk CM signed supply contracts for Luxteel as interior materials with major domestic franchises such as Hong Kong Starbucks, Twosome Place, Lotteria, and Ediya.

Inside the Doseong Center, Luxsteel products used as interior building materials were on display. Photo by Lee Sung-min

Sales of Luxteel architectural materials this year are estimated at about 20 billion KRW. Park said, "For large corporations with sales of 2 trillion KRW, this level of profit is practically almost non-profitable," but explained, "Currently, the steel architectural materials market is not fully open, so Luxteel is at the stage of leading market prices."

Exterior view of Dongguk CM Doseong Center located in Dangjin, Chungnam. Provided by Dongguk CM

He also revealed plans to establish Luxteel processing centers near overseas coil centers in Thailand, India, and Mexico, in addition to Doseong Center, to expand the business.

Park stated, "We are not simply creating a brand but doing premium ‘branding,’" and expressed his ambition, "We will strive for Luxteel to become the top luxury brand in the architectural materials market without chasing money in the short term."

Park Young-jun, Head of Luxsteel Solutions Team at Dongguk CM, is introducing the interior of Doseong Center. Photo by Dongguk CM