RMDF exposes the beauty of old materials for its own showroom and café in south korea

in busan, south korea, romantico design factory (RMDF) has converted an old house into its own showroom and café called ‘GREEN NOMAD’. the conversion from home to commercial space is careful and considered, focusing on celebrating nature and old, worn materials. 

images courtesy of romantico design factory (RMDF)

GREEN NOMAD is designed to reflect the studio’s design philosophy and approach. ‘all of us at RMDF really love nature, we see the value in the ‘old’, and we’re interested in processes of upcycling. in every one of our projects, we try to incorporate as much nature and natural materials as possible, and GREEN NOMAD is a reflection of that,’  explains junyoung heo, founder of RMDF. 

heo continues, ‘we always draw inspiration from nature. our goal was really to preserve the shape of the old house, naturally rather than artificially. for that reason, we used unprocessed natural materials throughout. we used recycled wood for the flooring and kept the concrete walls bare of paint or wallpaper.’

by reviving materials that would typically be thrown away, RMDF brings new life and a new use to an old space. in this way, the recent intervention is almost untraceable, making visitors to the showroom and café feel at once comfortable and at home.

project info:

name: GREEN NOMAD, nature friendly café

location: busan, south korea

design: romantico design factory (RMDF)

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom