on july 15, kim young-seon, founder of artizstudio, received the interview of youku tudou at the artiz studio flagship storeon jiangsu road, shanghai.
▲kim young-seon obtained subsequentinformation from the interpreter
personal profile: kim young-seon graduatedfrom the kyungsung university as a photography major in 2004 and produced amicro film “birds” which was released at the 9th pusan internationalfilm festival. previously working for woon jung studio, elgar studio and leewha studio, he founded artiz studio in 2008, revolutionizing the weddingphotography industry.
▲kim young-seon talked to the photographers about photography details
that’s right. it’s shanghai again. theplayground of “adventurers” in the 20th century is the point wheremany industries set sail today. it’s where the dream-chasing story of kimyoung-seon and his artiz studio begins.
on a tightly-packed schedule, kim young-seonwas busy supervising the setting arrangements in the artiz studio stores acrosschina last year. each set in each artiz studio store was inspired from orapproved by kim young-seon. while not opening new locations, he spent his timein training the photographers in the stores and taking wedding photos for vips.now he finally made time for our one-hour interview.
living up to its name as the industry leader, artiz studiotakes wedding photos for 1,000 couples in china every day. it may be rememberedby a series of numbers: 30 million yuan to 1 billion yuan within 6 months. yet kimyoung-seon, founder of artiz studio, is more of a craftsman of photography thanan entrepreneur. he has an infinite passion and endless pursuit of weddingphotography. it’s perhaps such trueness to its dreams that the weddingphotography studio has grown into a trans-national chain store!
removing the halo of success, this interviewwill unveil the founder of artiz studio who stays true to its dreams—kimyoung-seon.
a brand originating from korea, booming in china and oriented towards theworld
stay true to the dreams of craftsman after success
reporter:
what inspired you to expand the chinese market?
kim young-seon:
soon after ifounded artiz studio in korea, i met an amazingly talented and ambitiouschinese young man—allen shi. we felt like old friends at the first meeting. he told me that the chinesewedding photography industry was in a developing stage. to allow more chinesepeople to know about the charming korean style wedding photography, i took hisadvice and came to china to open the artiz studio in shanghai.
reporter:
how is artiz studio doing in china now?
kim young-seon:
now we have about 100 artizstudio stores in 38 cities across china. i have taken photos for stars liketang wei, mr. and mrs. lu yi.
reporter:
i heard that artiz studio hit bottom when it was first established inchina?
kim young-seon:
things didn’t go very well when i opened the artiz studio in shanghai. butallen shi did a great job in internet marketing in china and worked closelywith me. i didn’t know much about network marketing, so i took a lot of hisprofessional advice. that’s how artiz studio and i become who we are today.
reporter:
now artiz studio has become such a huge success in china and grown intothe number one wedding photography brand. what’s your next step for artizstudio?
kim young-seon:
the next step for artiz studio is to enter the international market. nowwe have opened artiz studio stores in malaysia. i want people in vietnam,singapore and other countries to see the works of artiz studio. no matter whereour customers are from, artiz studio will always put service quality first andtake more beautiful wedding photos. this will be artiz studio’s and my eternalpursuit.
▲kim young-seon laughed at the interview
charm customers with refreshing and natural photography style
build the brand awareness on quality service
reporter:
can you share with us why the photography style of artiz studio is sopopular in china?
kim young-seon:
first of all, there are huge differences between the chinese culture andkorean culture. when artiz studio tries to find and incorporate thesimilarities between the two cultures, chinese customers begin to fall forartiz studio. my photography philosophy is to present a “natural and unsophisticated”beauty of photos. i tell the photographers of artiz studio about my photographyphilosophy and they deliver natural photos that are loved by and popular amongthe customers, especially when there are many unnatural chinese portrait photos.
reporter:
what’s the key to good customer reviews?
kim young-seon:
upholding that customers are god, we strive to provide our customers thelatest set, the newest experience and best services. artiz studio is rated apreferred brand of dianping.com because our employees work for the same goal ofservices first. then customers will naturally write down good reviews for artizstudio.
duplicate success instores across china
insist on innovation andhave no fear for copycatting
reporter:
artiz studio has so many stores across china. how can each store offercustomers the latest and best photography experience?
kim young-seon:
artiz studio changes the set every two months. we will train all thephotographers in the headquarters. then the photographers in other artiz studiostores will be trained based on the trainings in the headquarters in shanghai.
reporter:
as a matter of fact, we know other wedding photography studios have beencopycatting artiz studio…
kim young-seon:
that’s right. every time artiz studio launches a new set, other studioswill copy us. but it doesn’t matter. though being copies, artiz studio will continuouslyintroduce more innovative and exquisite sets and make the most beautifulbrides. this is what artiz studio has been working for.
postscript:
within 8 years artiz studio has started sucha huge industrial revolution, evidencing its imaginable energy. it has much todo with some of its classic sets, most of which are drawn from the personalexperience of kim young-seon. for example, kim young-seon went to kusadasi in 2009 and visiteda crescent-shaped theatre built in the 190 b.c. the fabulous marble carvings were like afrozen symphony which gave him the idea that everyone needs such a theatre topresent her own beauty. with this inspiration he created the lyon theatreseries which was chosen by many couples for its rich cultural elements.
there are many more much-praised classic series,including the starry sky series and rose garden series. some are copycatted byother wedding photography studios, but they can no longer be found in the artizstudio shanghai. that’s because they have been torn down for new series. kimyoung-seon may be well prepared for continuous innovation and let others becopycats. perhaps it is such confidence and strength that makes artiz studio awind wane of korean style wedding photography.