Korea's latest decorating craze: Customizable pens

A customized pen created by the reporter using charms and pen bodies purchased at the Dongdaemun Shopping Complex in Jongno District, central Seoul. [WOO JI-WON]

If it can be decorated, it will be decorated. Or at least that seems to be the case in Korea's latest decorating craze.
 
First came diaries covered with stickers and washi tape. Then bags followed, heavy with key rings and plush dolls. And just when it seemed there was nothing left to customize, the trend landed — unexpectedly — on pens.
 

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A pen may not seem like much of a canvas. But in the world of decoration, it is enough to make it personal and fun.
 

A crowd gathered around a shop selling charms for customization. [WOO JI-WON]

"Because there are so many charms, I can make a pen themed around my favorite character, or design one around matching colors," said a woman in her 20s surnamed Lee, who spent over an hour finding charms to assemble a customized pen at Dongdaemun Shopping Complex in Jongno District, central Seoul, on a recent Monday.
 
The fifth floor of the complex has become the epicenter of Korea's newest decorating craze. At dozens of small shops, shoppers browse trays of charms and dangling ornaments, most priced at just a few hundred won.
 
The pen customizing process starts with the pen body, which comes in a variety of colors and shapes. Unlike regular pens, which are not suitable for customization, the complex's pens resemble the skeleton of a fish — solid at the head and tail, but open in the middle. Charms with small loops are added to the body, allowing users to build their own designs piece by piece.
 
Lee was among the crowd gathered at one of the market's best-known pen customization stores. She claimed a spot at a side table full of charms specificially for pen customization, putting them in and out of the pen to make sure they fit. Nearby, mothers followed their daughters and young women compared options, dropping charms into small baskets, while older women debated what looked best.
 

A table full of charms for pen customization [WOO JI-WON]

Shoppers carefully select charms to customize their pens at a store known for pen customization. [WOO JI-WON]

"I came after watching a Reel on Instagram," said a woman surnamed Ha, clutching three empty pen bodies that still needed decorating. "This is my first time customizing my own pen."
 
Short videos of people assembling pens — clicking caps into place, snapping charms onto clips — went viral last week, transforming what had once been a niche hobby into a popular trend that caused crowds to descend on Dongdaemun.
 
So far, the craze is largely confined to stores at the Dongdaemun Shopping Complex.
 
The owner of the shop that went viral said the concept itself was nothing new. "People have been customizing pens for some time," she said. "But after Instagram, it exploded. We've even had customers from Japan."
 
Demand has been so intense that some stores, including hers, have run out of pen bodies altogether. Shoppers are now sent elsewhere in the building to buy the base before returning to decorate it.

A screen capture shows Instagram reels of people customizing pens. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

 
Despite already making three, Lee said she plans to come back once more pen bodies are restocked — though she did not leave right away, lingering instead at a charm stall, still sorting through pieces long after making that promise.
 
Customization, however, is not limited to pens.
 
"I came to buy key caps and parts," said Kim Min-ju, leaving with a handful of tiny plastic keys. "I've been into them this year. It's become my hobby to decorate things." Keyboard key caps have become just as trendy.
 

Charms for key cap customization [WOO JI-WON]

Key caps rose in popularity in recent months thanks to the popularization of mechanical keyboards, said Im Mi-young, who runs the accessory shop Garioon. Mechanical keyboards have gained traction in recent years for their distinctive typing feel and their clicky or 'thocky' sounds. "They're also popular because you can customize them," she said. "You choose the cap, then add charms on top to make it your own."
 
Lee Eun-hee, a consumer studies professor at Inha University, said decorating personal items is "a way of expressing oneself through the things one owns."
 
"There’s a sense of personal satisfaction in decorating something and making it truly your own. People enjoy creating something that reflects who they are and then showing it off offline, where others can see it, admire it or even feel a little envious."
 
Shop owner Im also said decorating trends "move very fast here." After 10 years in Dongdaemun, she has learned to read subtle shifts in what people pick up.
 
One change she has noticed is the growing number of families, especially mothers visiting with their children. "More parents come with their kids now," she said. "Some even travel from far outside Seoul just for this."
 

From children to adults, people carefully select charms to customize their items. [WOO JI-WON]

These days, she added, foreign tourists staying in nearby hotels have also begun stopping by — drawn into Korea's ever-evolving culture of decoration.
 

BY WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]