Mona Kim

“Creativity is the way you bring into existence a response that was not there before.”

Artist and designer, Mona brings to life projects that range from brand-commissioned art installations, immersive museum exhibition design, experiential pop-ups, interactive entertainment experiences, to editorial curation. Seamless choreography and synergy between content, space, and media, to storytell, inspire emotions and create meaning, is her signature approach.

She engages the persuasive power of beauty and meaning in her design explorations to reach wide audience. At the heart of her practice is making complex topics accessible and compelling; these span climate change, sustainability, biodiversity, linguistic diversity, vanishing arts, human rights, and future museums. Mona has collaborated with scientists, linguists, fashion designers, CMO’s and CEO’s, and brings a curatorial finesse to creating teams suited to each design challenge and a diverse range of commissioning goals, from business to imagination to policy.

Her work is part of public discourse, as an educator (Parsons Paris The New School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University), and speaker in dialogue with Google and Airbnb on present and future issues. In addition to global coverage and critical acclaim in outlets including The New York Times, Women's Wear Daily, and The Creative Review, her design work has garnered numerous prestigious awards including the D&AD, AIGA, Art Director’s Club of France and SEGD. Mona travels avidly to nourish her creativity and expand her perspective. She has lived and worked in New York, Milan, Barcelona, and is currently based in Paris.

Mona Kim Projects: The Studio

Experience x Audience is at the heart of the multidisciplinary award-winning creative practice, Mona Kim Projects.

Its collaboration with global brands includes immersive interactive exhibition for Warner Bros, 360 global campaign and art installations for Uniqlo, experiential space design for Macallan and Samsung, visual concepts for Cartier, Dior, Trussardi and Mandarina Duck. For cultural sector, the practice has brought compelling storytelling and public experience through narrative environments and immersive experiential exhibitions to create awareness on global issues such as cultural diversity, vanishing arts, climate change and human rights, for museums, governments and international organizations including Museu do Amanhã, European Parliament, and UNESCO.

To offer clients a unique sensibility and approach, Mona Kim leverages her experience and know-how as a creative director, to assemble a bespoke cross-disciplinary team of collaborators to conceive and execute impeccably on small to large-scale projects. These include designers, architects, sensory designers, composers, filmmakers, writers, lighting designers, engineers, technologists, integrators, producers.

Notable Collaborators:
Auditoire (event production), Robert Baker-Ashton (photographer, DOP), Jean-Baptist Dusmesne (designer), Carl Everett (lighting designers), David Germond (designer), Ferdinand Grätz (sound designers), Jeremy Kunz (designer), LSTN (electro-acoustics), Andrew McKinna (producer), Dan Meredith (architect), Deborah Miller (architect), Michel Monteaux (photographer), Ibrahim Muasher (architect), Kanako Naryama (interior architect), New Project (fabricator), onedotzero (project management), 160over90 (event production), Todd Palmer (strategist), Dario Sirerol (olfactory designer), Olga Subirós (architect, curator), Simon Taylor (filmmaker), Supermatic (fabrication), Tomato (media production), amongst many.

Services:

Concept
Creative Direction
Curation
Design
Implementation
+
Creative Consultancy for Agencies

Project Types:

Sensorial Environments
Interpretive Exhibitions
Experiential Events
Experiential Retail
Art Installations
Immersive Media
+
Branding
Advertising
Digital
Print

Select Clients & Projects:

Luxury:
Cartier
Dior
The Macallan

Culture:
Warner Bros.
Canadian Museum for Human Rights
European Parliament Brussels
Forum Barcelona 2004
SPYSCAPE Museum
Henry Ford Museum
Japanese-American Museum

Science:
World Expo Zaragoza 2008
Museu do Amanha
RIO+20

Fashion:
Uniqlo
Mandarina Duck
Trussardi
Theory
Bloomingdale
Kenneth Cole Productions
Premiere Vision

Beauty:
Dior
Coty
Cheil Cosmetics
Crabtree & Evelyn
Revlon Professional

Technology:
Samsung
Brandcast
Duet Spa

Partnerships + Collaborations:

Partnerships:

Silkwormdream
(Digital Agency)

Program Collective
(Transdisciplinary design collective composed of Mona Kim, Todd Palmer, Olga Subirós, Simon Taylor of Tomato)

Consultancy for Agencies:

Base Design
Malherbe Paris
ORB
Ralph Appelbaum Associates

Awards, Press, Speaking:

Awards:
Art Directors Club of France, Gold Trophy in Spatial Design , Exhibitions category
AIGA + Design Observer 50 Books Winner
D&AD, In Book, Brand Experience & Environments category.
D&AD, Jury, Digital Media category.
Iakov Chernikov Conceptual Architecture Prize, Nomination (as co-founding partner of Program Collective).
Design As Reform Vol.2, Finalist, Public Art Installations category, Dubai.
D&AD, Silver Nomination.
SEGD, Global Design Award, Honor Awards.
Laus Trophy.
Laus Awards
I.D. Magazine Annual Awards, Honorable Mention.
Applied Arts Awards Annual.
Good Design Award, Chicago Athenaeum.

Press:
New York Times, Womens Wear Daily (WWD), Creative Review, Domus

Speaking Engagements:
Google Zoo, Airbnb, Art Director's Club of France, Art Futura Conference, Broadcat International New Media Conference, Conference Les Entrepreneurs Évolutionnaires

Teaching:
Parsons Paris The New School, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Pompeu Fabra University/ELISAVA Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, IDEP

1985 - 1993:

Swiss design education, Humanities studies, and 1st Apple computers.
1st interactive project on Macintosh 128K at Carnegie Mellon University.

UX/UI design at dawn of interactive technology for IBM.
Handpicked to develop strategic design projects under Sam Lucente and Edward Tufte.

Couldn’t imagine corporate life at such a young age.

Moved to Italy to experience “LIFE”:
Became fluent in Italian and Italian culture.
Learned "joie de vivre” and Italian hand gestures.

Discovered that Key to Creativity = “Going with the nose” (Design through instinct)
Thank you Ettore Sottsass for teaching me a valuable life-long lesson.

1993 - 2003:

Moved to New York to live “AMBITION”.
Learned to work like a New Yorker.
Acquired large agency experiences.

Fashion, Advertising, Branding, Exhibition Design
Became fluent in multiple disciplines through diverse agency experiences.
Acquired sensibility and love for Image.
Developed ability to think in 3D, Space, and Experience.

World Journey: A Life-changing experience.
Started to travel independently to India, Asia, and +35 countries.
Discovered the world of backpackers.

Collaborations with fashion designers.
Learned the abstract language of that world,
Learned to feel, understand, speak fabric & trends.

Beginning of entrepreneurial experience.
Founded Mona Kim Projects.
Founded NON, NYC, a minimalist/dada counter-culture street fashion brand.

2003 - Present:

Moved to Barcelona to explore “FIRE”
Became fluent in Spanish and Spanish culture.
Learned to embrace chaos.

Experiential Spaces, Technology, Curating
Invited by 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures to creatively head its main exhibitions.
Introduced new immersive exhibition format to experience cultural content.
Started to co-curate/work with curators, scientist, and experts.

The beauty of Collaboration.
Co-founded Program Collective, a transdisciplinary design collective at the intersection of art, technology, architecture, media, cultural content.

Learned to direct large cross-disciplinary teams on transmedia projects

Moved to Paris to refine “TASTE FOR BEAUTY”
Becoming fluent in French.
Learning how the French mind works.
Fully enjoying this profound culture.

Luxe, Uniqlo, Branded Art Installations, Scenography

Digital Projects and Startups
Co-founded Silkwormdream, a Web/App agency.
Exposure to the startup world and its great open spirit.

Focus on the “Experiential”
Synthesized knowledge & expertise acquired throughout +20 years (psychology, public engagement, curation, architecture, environmental design, brand strategy, interaction design, storytelling) into a unique specialty.