The Office

10th March 2013

By Iain Chatburn

The views from our new deVOL design offices at Cotes Mill are a little more calming than the view I had in my previous job in South Korea. Play both videos for a side by side comparison!

Gazing down from the 15th Floor of the Elite building in Sinchon, downtown Seoul often made me slightly dizzy, but appreciative that I didn’t have the job of the lone traffic conductor often standing in the middle of all that madness. Well, I might have sped the video up a tad but I’m glad I don’t have to cross those roads anymore.

As well as being fast-paced, Seoulites do hold onto some traditions which makes the city an eclectic mix of ultra modern and old school. Oversized touch-screen street computers with maps and free phones sit alongside cobblers kiosks waiting to fix up your shoes for a small fee, making sure you’re always on the right path and well shod.

When the long rainy season came I was treated to displays of countless pedestrians popping open their obligatory umbrellas (wearing a raincoat in Seoul is akin to wearing a spacesuit) to protect their suits from the frequent downpours and the few who had forgotten theirs running for cover, perhaps for a quick snack in a tteokbokki stand.

I’m not sure megacities are really for me though, I’m much happier with the Leicestershire countryside as my screensaver and I can’t wait to see how things develop outside now that spring is on it’s way!