The main shopping streets of Jongno, Seoul’s jewelry district, are lined with glass-front shops displaying what’s for sale inside: gold bangles, diamond necklaces, pearl earrings, jade rings.
You could be in New York City’s diamond district or Hatton Garden in London, except the storefront signage is in Korean characters.
If you look down an alley, there might be a scorched-rice stall, a woman selling cabbages and carrots from a cart, shoppers with designer handbags or an old house with the traditional scallop tile roof that now houses a pastry shop.
And at the end of a main street: the Changdeokgung Palace, a home to Korea’s royalty since 1405.
“Jongno is the largest jewelry district in the world,” said Kyung-Ju Nam, the leader of the government-funded Seoul Jewelry Industry Support Center.
She and two other industry experts — Hyunsung Ohn, the director of the privately funded Wolgok Jewelry Industry Research Institute, and Oh Hyo Keun, the chairman of the Korea Precious Metals and Jewelry Association, an industry organization — had gathered in Ms. Nam’s office in the jewelry district for an interview.
Mr. Ohn broke down the district’s numbers: “There are 925 manufacturers, 1,631 wholesalers and 663 retail shops, in 64,000 square meters” (almost 16 acres).
And, he added, “of every 100 tourists who come to Seoul, 62 visit Jongno,” a statistic that he said came from the Korean Tourism Organization.
Jongno’s development in the heart of Seoul was the result, at least in part, of the Korean ruling class’s desire for glitter. “Craftsmen supplied jewelry to the palaces for centuries,” Mr. Ohn said.
By the 1970s, Jongno was booming, with new craft and retail businesses opening.
“With the industrialization of South Korea, the economy grew,” Ms. Nam explained. “Consumer spending increased and we saw more demand for jewelry.”
But, as Mr. Oh of the Korea Precious Metals and Jewelry Association said, “We aren’t known by big brand names, like Bulgari. We sell our craftsmanship, our skills.”
That may change. “While Korean jewelers are already recognized for their high-level craftsmanship,” Ms. Nam said, “the next step is clear: They are now preparing to gain wider recognition as global jewelry brands.”
Hoping for a Boost
Today, the country is enjoying Hallyu, an umbrella term for what has been labeled the Korean Wave: the global recognition of K-pop, K-beauty, K-drama, K-cuisine and, thanks to the novelist Han Kang’s 2024 Nobel Prize, K-literature.
Now K-jewelry is hoping for a similar boost, with the government providing support through organizations such as Ms. Nam’s and, in some cases, direct financial aid to brands.
There also is a new generation of jewelry designers and artisans trying to ensure that Jongno — and their own businesses — will thrive.
About 120 of them, mostly the 30-something offspring of jeweler parents, have formed a group called Ieum (in English, Connection). Its members, who all work in the district, meet occasionally to discuss the industry, attend lectures and exhibitions and generally foster a feeling of community. The New York Times recently talked with four of them.
“Being able to work and live in Jongno is truly a great blessing for me,” said Seohui Lee, 30. Especially since May, when she started her own jewelry line, Bör, featuring genderless silver rings, pendants and lighters accented with gemstones.
She said that, given that Jongno is a hub for the jewelry industry, “almost all of the processes and business partners I need are concentrated here, which makes working efficiently much easier.”
Ms. Lee’s parents own a gemstone shop, Hyoe-Jin, in Jongno, where they sell gems to individuals and businesses. “I grew up surrounded by jewelry,” she said. “When I was 8, I wrote on a school paper, ‘I want to be a jeweler.’”
After receiving a degree in jewelry and metal design from Kyonggi University in 2018, she worked as a designer for jewelry companies until she started her own business.
It is something of a family affair: Her father cuts the stones; her brother provides 3-D designs; and her mother connects her with Jongno suppliers.
“My father can cut anything,” Ms. Lee said. And in a tiny adjoining room, her father, Yanghoon Lee, was doing just that, turning chunks of black onyx into clover leaves for a customer who was making a necklace and earrings.
Hyunwoo Oh, 36, said he set up his wedding ring business, Gongbang 301, because “I’ve always liked how jewelry can please people.”
And he set it up in the district because, he said, “Jongno is the birthplace and heart of Korea’s jewelry industry, home to the largest number of craftsmen and businesses in the field. Thanks to this dense ecosystem, the area offers unmatched infrastructure for jewelry design, production and distribution, all in one place.”
After graduating in 2013 with a degree in interior architectural design from Seoul Institute of the Arts and completing the military service required of all South Korean men, he joined his father’s business, laser engraving the gold jewelry that his father sold.
He soon started designing, specializing in wedding bands because, he said, he felt there would always be a need for them. The rings, usually wide bands, come in sets and complementary diamond engagement rings are available, all in his minimalist style.
“I wanted to give them a vintage look,” he said, “something casual so they don’t look like wedding rings.”
Last year, Mr. Oh opened his shop, which has cream-colored walls and beams of honey-colored pine. It is in Jongno across the street from an old wall of the Jongmyo Shrine, which has honored Joseon dynasty kings and queens since its construction in 1395. The wall, he said, inspired one of his designs: wide wedding bands engraved with a pattern that looks like rows of blocks.
Another member of Jongno’s second generation is Choi Gai-In, 33, the chief executive of Rich Lab Grown Diamonds. She said that she established her business in the district because “it is evolving rapidly, as rising national income fuels demand for high-value goods like fine jewelry.” And she is here because it is a family tradition.
She learned the wholesale diamond business from her mother, Yeonim Hong, who sells tiny natural diamonds, and the graduate program at the Gemological Institute of America, which she completed in 2016. She also received a master’s degree in engineering from Hanyang University in Seoul in 2023.
Ms. Hong sells from a display case in what Jongno businesspeople call a mall, a large building where some floors are filled with cases, 28 on her floor alone. Ms. Choi’s business is in an adjacent mall. Across the alley from Ms. Choi’s operation is the business owned by one of her uncles, while another uncle’s business is in the mall next door.
Jongno’s jewelry industry is quite often a family affair and, Ms. Choi said, “a natural base for those who value both tradition and innovation.”
After graduating from Induk University in Seoul with a degree in jewelry and metal design, Jaeho Lee, now 34, started working for his father’s small plating business, Petit Plating.
“I came to the factory so my father’s business wouldn’t vanish,” he said.
His father, Kyung-Il Lee, was taking a lunch break at his desk, diving into a bowl of ramen set amid a dozen pincers, each holding a ring that had been dipped in gold and dried using a hair dryer.
As with his colleagues, the younger Mr. Lee said he found satisfaction in seeing how the beauty of jewelry can make people happy: “I like how pleased people are when they see how their jewelry shines after the plating.”
And, like them, he said that he was happy to be in the district.
“Living and working in Jongno feels like living with the past, present and future all at once,” he said. “This naturally instills in us a deep respect for tradition and a sincere desire to offer meaningful value to our customers.
“As we move into the second and third generations working in Jongno, I hope more people will come to recognize the artistic value of craftsmanship.”
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