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GapYear is a time for growth and happiness.
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I came across an article with an appealing headline in a famous fashion magazine.
The article's title was'Quitting the company and going to study abroad - a new career'.
......
'Huh? Isn't this a gap year? It's a gap year...!'
I thought it was a typical example of a gap year that office workers might take, and I wanted to hear more of her story.
So I personally met someone who had finished three years of working and taken a gap year,the stationery boutiqueFibreno (fibreno)'s CEO, Seongmin Im whom I
met. We hear the story of a woman who quit her corporate job at a major company to pursue her own dream.
© fibreno
The beginning of the stationery boutique 'Fibreno'
I originally majored in art. Specifically, I studied visual design, which included brand management. My final focus was producing brand BI and CI. Later, because I wanted to create my own brand, when I went to graduate school in Italy I enrolled in a program called 'Luxury Marketing Management.' Since then I've always had the dream of creating something of my own.
You only live once, so I should try what I want to do.
Three full years of working life
At the time, since I didn't know much, I thought I should get some work experience. My parents also made a deal: they wouldn't control what I wanted to do, but they insisted that I work at a company for three years. Fortunately, I got a job and worked in the marketing team at Galleria Department Store in charge of Leather Total.
(What was working life like?)It was fun. Even now my stories are mostly about work. I worked in the luxury goods department for two years and in the HR team for one year. In terms of practical work, the luxury department was enjoyable, while HR was interesting for learning the company's structure.
It was fun, but if you ask why I quit (laughs): I became confused between the path I had originally wanted and where I was. As I organized my thoughts, I realized there were things I wanted to do and wondered what I was afraid of. Since you only live once, I thought I should try what I want to do, so it wasn't because I had some big plan.(When you said you were quitting your job, how did people around you react?)In Korean society, women are expected to get married. The concerns people expressed made sense once I quit. There's also a fear that comes from no longer belonging to a large protective framework.
In any case, having been inside those rules and boundaries, it's scary to try to adapt to being outside them. But now I've gotten used to it. At first it sometimes felt terrifying. I thought 'that won't be me,' but after living that life and then not living it, that fear doesn't completely disappear.
As time passed during my working life,
And I had been forgetting. I had forgotten the deal with my parents and the things I wanted to do, but one day I suddenly thought, 'Oh, this isn't right.' While working at the company, regardless of whether the job was good or bad, I felt this wasn't the direction I wanted to go. That made me reconsider my earlier dreams. Looking through my diary I thought, 'Oh, I wanted to do this back then,' and I found many notes I had written. Coincidentally, the moment I had that realization was when I had just completed three full years. So I told my parents, and they readily said okay.
Dream, Meet, Eat, Wear, Live
Going back and rediscovering
I tried to find my dream again, but the transition didn't happen right away. After working in HR continuously, it took about a month to get back into that feeling. I couldn't quickly switch back to my previous mindset. I had a rough big-picture idea of what I wanted to do, but not a clear picture. So assuming I would live to 100 years old,My plan was to take one year just for myself.Along with that plan, I created a blog. I made it with the idea of writing a year's worth of diary entries in five categories (Dream, Meet, Eat, Wear, Live), and set off on a trip.
A journey in search of dreams
I chose three countries to visit.The first was Italy, the second Brazil, and the third Indonesia.I learned during my studies in Rome that there was a three-month leather artisan school in Florence, which became the opportunity that shaped my present. I thought, "Oh, I've wanted to try something like this," and things fell into place, so I decided, "I'll go there first and then make concrete plans," and I went.
When I actually went to Florence, Italy, I initially thought, "There sure is a lot of leather," but after living there for about three months I realized that leather and packaging were extremely advanced. Leather interested me more than bags or shoes, and since I majored in visual design I thought it would be good to consider it in relation to graphic design. So at that time, as those spaces were staged, I thought about how to design the space and how to arrange objects...During that period of traveling, I did a lot of thinking.
But taking a one-year break turned out to be harder than I expected — being used to working continuously, not having someone to guide or control me was really difficult. I wonder if I should say this, but I think you have to factor that into your calculations. I originally planned for one year, but I came back a bit earlier than expected and opened Pivreno after ten months.
Italy, Brazil, and Indonesia
In Brazil I have a closest friend whom I met in Rome. That friend runs a pasta boutique. This Brazilian friend was the biggest influence in my naming "Station Boutique" and in my decision to quit my company. He always said, "I'll go back to Brazil and launch something like this," and I would design logos for him and we talked about it. At that time I thought, "I'll open a gift shop."
That friend followed that path as soon as he returned, while I was still working at the company. Whenever I told him something was so-so or not fun, he would call and ask, "Did you quit yet?" So I'd say, "No, I haven't quit yet." We always talked about these things, and because I liked him so much, I wanted to visit that country. Also, since he was running a pasta boutique, I thought I'd go there to learn how to make pasta, so I went.
Before opening Pivreno, (she) attended a leather school located in Florence, Italy, for three months.
CEO Im Seongmin learned how to work with leather.
She learned from a leather artisan about leather techniques, from folding leather and applying adhesive to stitching, among other skills.
A three-month pause in Florence: Leather School
It's fun. But when I went it was a short-term course and there were three students. That was great because it was one-on-one with the teacher. However, now it's somewhat well-known and there are quite a few Koreans. Still, when I attended it was really fun.
(Can you speak Italian?)I knew a little. But you can do it in English, and there are people who can speak English. Actually, since the process itself is what's important, there wasn't much of a language barrier. Not just for me—anyone who goes shouldn't have a language barrier (laughs).
(The price is higher than expected. It might be a burden for students.)The price is higher than you'd expect. But it's full-time from 10 AM to 5 PM, Monday through Friday. So personally—maybe because I went while working—when I calculated the time it didn't feel like a huge cost. You can learn intensively.
I never wanted to become a master craftsman, so I took the three-month short course. The school's regular course is six months. After six months, if the school and I are a good fit, the school may offer a position and, after a three-month internship, provide an opportunity to work there. But I wasn't aiming to become that kind of craftsman; I wanted to learn the principles, so I went to that school.
© fibreno
Your current products are new types different from existing ones—what prompted you to make them?
I don't really know how it started either; I just felt I needed them. So for mouse pads or desk pads, the answer was simply that I wanted to use them myself. What I make isn't actually that mainstream. For tissue cases, when I worked at a company tissues were kept in square boxes like that, and I hated it. I really hated it (laughs). So I thought I wanted to make one. It was just something I needed but couldn't find.What I want to make tends to be the main focus.
I'm studying what I want to learn of my own accord.
It feels like I'm filling things in on my own.
Looking back, do you have any regrets?
Do you mean in terms of making a living? (laughs) I guess working at a company was comfortable. Sometimes I think that.I don't have any regrets at all. It feels comfortable, On the contrary.I don't have big ambitions yet, so rather than thinking I need to earn money or succeed, I think it's more important to enjoy life right now.
I'm currently active in a group called 'Bukchon Love'.(https://blog.naver.com/bukchon4rang)There is a group called that. Ms. Ok Seon-hee, the author of the book 'Bukchon Tannik,' is involved. She was also a film columnist, and together with her, I-bap's owner Kang Young-ju, and the Seoul city government, they jointly proposed and created the Bukchon group. We study Bukchon, gather people to visit cultural institutions, and run programs like that. It's not something we do for money; it's about getting to know the place where I live and work. This is something I couldn't do while working at a company, and I like that it feels like studying differently from my business because I'm enjoying it independently of money. I'm really having fun.I'm voluntarily studying what I want to learn. It feels like I'm filling something up on my own.
To employees planning to take a gap year, or to those who are worried like I was before.
From our experience, you should have a big-picture plan. I had the idea of creating my own brand and doing something with leather — a broad idea of 'what I want to do' — but the notion that I should run a stationery boutique emerged later as I started. It was like, 'Ah, this is it.'
At some point I thought, 'This is it.' But you can't just go off blindly without a big-picture plan. I don't think it should be an aimless adventure, an escape, or gambling. You can go out and work out the smaller details that follow the big picture... I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say that (laughs).
I think taking a break is really a good thing.I wonder if I could have quit my job and opened this boutique immediately without a preparation period. I think it was possible because I had that pause — time to clear my head, see things, and rethink.
© fibreno
Plans for the future
First of all, I want to build this brand. Yes, right now it just feels like a shop, but I hope in the future 'Fibreno' becomes a brand. (Curious about the meaning of 'Fibreno') When I lived in Rome I always kept a diary. I wrote in the room where I was staying on a homestay, and back then I arrogantly wrote, 'In five years, Korean men, wait — I'll give you a study like this' (laughs). I wasn't working then and as a student I must have been quite presumptuous. There's an entry that reads '- from my room in Fibreno.' That Roman house address was Fibreno. When I write a diary I always note '-from [place].'
CEO Seongmin Im's Fibreno site
Stationery boutique,
Fibrenooffers desk accessories and stationery made from leather in refined colors.
Website: https://www.fibreno.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fibreno10
I arrived at Anguk Station for the interview and walked along the Changdeokgung stone wall path to visit Fibreno. In a quiet location Fibreno, neatly and simply settled. When I visited the shop,Rather than an office or workshop, it felt like a warm personal room.
Even after the interview, I chatted briefly with the CEO. What I felt throughout the interview was that the CEO, who is truly doing what they want to do, looked so happy and beautiful. I think I'll remember it whenever I go near Bukchon. The CEO of Fibreno, Seongmin ImThis concludes the interview article.
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OliveEditor
olive@koreagapyear.com