Art-lovers have been enjoying the opportunity to become more design-savvy by participating in the Seoul Design Spot Tour, which spotlights workshops, studios and showrooms on Seoul’s trendiest streets.

As part of the Seoul Design Week 2014 from Nov. 26-30, the tour has been taking participants to 150 studios on 11 streets, including Garosugil Street, Gyeongnidan Street and Bukchon-Gye-dong Street.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza’s design lab is part of the program and the street-based studios will remain open after the design week. The tour is hosted by the Seoul Design Foundation and Design House Inc. and sponsored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Airbnb, an American company offering shared accommodation to travelers, is an official partner.

Participants can see how products are designed and produced by interacting with artists. The studios are also offering exhibitions, flea market bazaars and open-house parties.

This year’s event explores the intricate web of Seoul’s avenues, back alleys and thoroughfares that have provided inspiration for Korean pop-culture. The dramas, movies and songs that sparked the Korean Wave around the world have been set against the backdrop of Seoul’s boisterous, crowded streets.

“This year’s tour has captured the essence of what the street is about. By simply walking the streets, people will get a sense of what design means in Seoul’s chic, urbane culture,” one city official told reporters at a press conference held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza last Wednesday.

“Design is neither difficult nor distant; it is like the air that surrounds us. It’s a treasure that graces our workaday lives.”

Seoul Design Festival, an exhibition held at Coex in Seoul on the sidelines of the tour, will introduce various innovative products in the fields of fashion, stationery, accessories, electronics and handicrafts.

Celebrating its 13th anniversary with the theme “Healthy Design for Balanced Life,” the event brings together over 50,000 trendsetting designers, consumers, marketers and investors to boost the creative industries and bring to light design talents. Start-up designers can use the platform to promote their contents and solutions.

Seoul Design Week is a five-day international festival that celebrates the ever-growing influence design has on our personal and professional lives. The Seoul City government aims to incorporate design-related initiatives into its municipal administration and policies.

“We live in a world where our whole lives are being simultaneously renewed by design. Design is the culmination of means-centered thinking that prioritizes people and cooperation,” Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said in a congratulatory speech at the Herald Design Forum held at DDP last Wednesday.

“The Seoul City government is striving forward with policies promoting collaboration and governance in public design, to solve our innumerable challenges for a sustainable future,” Park added.

For more information on the Seoul Design Spot Tour, which ends on Nov. 30, visit www.seouldesignspot.com/2014/.

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)