Butter & Onion

A brand that has been proposing a dining culture by introducing premium overseas tableware to the domestic market. Curating world-renowned brands such as Germany's Hering Berlin, Bauscher, and WMF Professional, as well as Portugal's Costa Verde, the brand has showcased its tableware in various dining spaces, including restaurants, hotels, and cafes. Its in-house collection, RE:FORM, draws formal motifs from everyday Korean dining items—such as paper cups, cup rice containers, and seaweed jars—and reinterprets them in ceramic form, developing tableware that captures contemporary Korean food culture.

Rather than standing out, the most fundamental existence

We captured the role of silently supporting the whole in the brand name.

Q. What motivated you to start Butter & Onion? I am curious to know what kind of tableware you wanted to introduce to Korean dining tables at the time.

I believe that the finishing touch to a dish is ultimately the tableware. No matter how good the food is, it leaves a completely different impression depending on the dish it is served in. I have experienced this countless times while working closely with fine tableware from abroad. However, in Korea, dishes have long often remained merely tools for holding food. Butter & Onion started from this point. Rather than introducing flashy products, we wanted to introduce tableware that completes the atmosphere of the dining table, the food, and even the space itself. Offering options to make everyday dining a little more abundant was the beginning of Butter & Onion.

Q. What meaning did you intend to convey with the name 'Butter & Onion,' derived from butter and onions, the basic ingredients of cooking?

Butter and onions are the ingredients that kick off many Western dishes. They may not be flashy, but without these two, the cooking simply cannot begin properly. I felt the same way about tableware. While the food is the star of the table, it is ultimately the tableware that makes it stand out the most. I captured in the brand name the role of the most fundamental element—one that silently supports the whole rather than standing out.

Q. Butter & Onion has been introducing overseas tableware, used even in Michelin restaurants, to the domestic market. How did the discerning eye gained from experiencing various products firsthand influence the development of your own products?

Observing various fine dining establishments, including Michelin-starred ones, I noticed a common thread: rather than seeking unfamiliar forms to make food special, chefs reinterpret familiar shapes in new ways. Bowls resembling oyster shells or plating utilizing eggshells originated from this very idea. That experience became the starting point for Re:Reform. The idea was to transfer forms we had overlooked because they were so familiar—such as paper cups, seaweed containers, and instant rice bowls—into ceramics, the most durable material. I believe that the concept of "disposable" is not a matter of form, but of intent. Even with the same shape, depending on the mindset with which it is made and used, an object destined for discard can become a dish that lasts a long time.

Disposable is not a matter of form, but of intent.

Q. What motivated Butter & Onion, which has been curating and introducing overseas tableware, to develop its own collection, 'Re:form'?

As I spent a long time introducing fine tableware, I eventually found myself wanting to create dishes that could only be found on our dining tables. While introducing finished tableware from abroad was meaningful, my desire to transform scenes found only on our tables into tableware grew stronger. So, instead of looking far into the distance, I took a closer look at objects closely connected to our daily lives. Everyday items that are always close yet quickly discarded—such as the curves of paper cups, the creases of instant rice containers, and the proportions of seaweed jars—became the starting point for Re:Reform. I believed that even in things we had overlooked because they were too ordinary, there lay the unique beauty of our food culture and the potential for new designs.

Q. What are your criteria for selecting a new product among the countless household items?

The primary criterion was to replace single-use disposable items with durable tableware. However, merely making the shapes similar was not enough. We believed that only when the items retained their original appearance would people look at familiar forms anew and naturally accept their new uses. Therefore, the most important factor was "how closely they resembled the original." Seaweed containers and cup rice containers—items that are instantly recognizable yet easily discarded—were the shapes that best met this criterion.

I thought that if the ceramics looked like a work of art, it wasn't reform.

Paper cups had to look like paper cups, and seaweed containers had to look like seaweed containers.

Q. What was the most important aspect you considered when transforming the form of disposable containers into durable ceramics? I am also curious about the production challenges you experienced while realizing the form and function.

The most important thing I considered was not compromising the sense of familiarity. I believed that if the items began to look like works of art the moment they were made into ceramics, it was no longer a "Re:Reform." A paper cup had to look like a paper cup, and a seaweed container had to look like a seaweed container. Therefore, I focused on preserving the original curves and proportions as much as possible. During the production process, the most challenging aspect was realizing the impression of thin, lightweight disposable items into solid ceramics. Even a slight change in thickness would transform them from the everyday items we know into something entirely different. Initially, I considered transferring the slogan, but I ultimately chose to strip away the material to best reveal the form itself.

Q. What do you think is the most strongly reflected regional characteristic in the brand?

I believe the essence lies in the ordinary daily life right here and now, rather than in grand traditions. The seaweed containers, cup rice containers, and paper egg cartons handled by Re:Reform are mostly sights found only on Korean dining tables. They are everyday items that are all too familiar to us, yet rarely seen in other countries. I did not want to look for regional identity solely in the past. I believed that our unique way of life and culture are already embedded within the things we hold, use, and discard every day.

Q. What kind of brand do you consider a 'good local brand'?

I consider ourselves a brand that creates products designed for long-term use. It is more important for a product to remain in everyday life for a long time than to become a fleeting sensation. Furthermore, both the creators and the users must be able to sustain their relationship. No matter how great a brand is, it is difficult to last long if it is detached from the market. I believe that a brand can only truly take root in the local community when the creators' values and the users' empathy are in balance. Above all, the more we capture stories that are authentically local, the more persuasive our products become to a wider audience. I believe that what is most authentically us ultimately possesses the power to resonate most deeply.

Local is not about recreating the past, but

I think it is a culture that is still being created.

Q. What motivated you to participate in this <Edit Debt: Neo Local>?

I deeply resonated with the description introducing the event when I first saw it. I was impressed by the fact that it views the "local" not through a single image like tradition or "K-," but by looking at it anew within each creator's own cultural context. Re:Reform also started from the same idea. This is because, rather than restoring the past, we wanted to preserve the landscapes of life that are with us today.

Q. This event introduces brands that connect the local community to today's creations rather than keeping it stuck in past traditions. Where do you think this planning philosophy aligns with Re:form?

Re:form is not a brand that reproduces tradition. It starts from the forms most familiar to our hands today. We transfer elements that were so familiar we didn't look at as special—such as the curves of a paper cup, the proportions of a seaweed container, and the creases of a cup rice bowl—into ceramics, the most durable material. We believe that "local" is not about reproducing the past, but about a culture that continues to be created even now. In that sense, Re:form and <Edit Debt: Neo Local> are looking in the same direction.

Q. Even as products and collections expand in the future, what is the single value that Butter & Onion wants to uphold for a long time?

It is discernment. I want to be a brand that selects well, rather than one that shows off too much. I have always chosen based on criteria such as whether the tableware completes both the dish and the space, or whether it is an item that will continue to be used over time. Re:Reform also started from the same standards. Even as our products and collections expand in the future, those standards will remain unwavering.

Maker's Pick

Ceramic seaweed container

This product most clearly demonstrates the philosophy of Re:form. While seaweed containers are one of the most familiar household items on the dining table, they are typically used once and then discarded. Re:form transferred the material to ceramic without altering the form. By maintaining the original proportions that make seaweed look its most appetizing and preserving the impression of a transparent container, it expanded the disposable use of the item into a long-lasting dish. This is a representative work that best reveals Re:form's concept of capturing contemporary Korean food culture by encapsulating discarded forms in the most enduring materials.

COMING SOON!

Butter & Onion this coming September Meet them in person at!

September 17 - 30, 2026, The Hyundai Seoul POP-UP ICONIC B1

fin.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗲𝗲 Butter & Onion

Seeum Kim

Edeit Seulgi Lee