Caravan 2.0 Restaurant in Seoul by Flack Studio

One of the many very cool things about Caravan Hapejong restaurant in Seoul are the rows of powder blue Featherston Scape dining chairs. I love this iconic Australian early 60s-era chair, its brass circle feet, and its inimitable curve shape and sharp frame—and it’s pretty excellent to see the piece well-played within an Australian expat eatery some 8,000km away. This year, the second edition of Caravan—called Caravan 2.0, and located in the heart of the old garment district in Gangnam—has been revealed, this time serving dinner and dotted with powder blue Scape chairs. Brilliance.

Both Caravan restaurants are the work of Melbourne’s David Flack and follow a similar jewel-tone aesthetic, layered over with styled artwork and objects imported from Australia to make every corner more charming and surprising than the last. While echoing different Seoul suburbs, both spaces share the same oxblood shutters and buttery caramel leather banquettes, brass accents, and wedges of decorative marble and terrazzo.

See more projects by Flack Studio on Yellowtrace here.

Slivers, slices, and chunks of various stones form a patterned backdrop at Caravan, especially as a jumbled geometric pattern of solid marble across the floor. “I selected all the stones locally—they had an incredible selection too!” David explains. After some material sourcing hiccups, the designer had to shift the original colour scheme he’d pieced together back home. “I changed the whole design palate on the ground—it was literally being built around me as I selected the final stones.”

While Caravan 1 was designed for brunch, Caravan 2.0 is an all-day diner serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, and has a moodier, richer feel. Flack Studio created custom lighting for the space, as well as the joinery. For David, the specially commissioned artwork created by Melbourne artist Jahnne Pasco-White is a standout in the space. “[She] was commissioned to create a raw abstraction painting inspired by the finishes and feeling of the space,” he says.

A third Caravan venue is due to open in Seoul soon too. Fingers crossed it’ll be a Caravan cocktail bar with some Scape lounge chairs in emerald green.

See more projects by Flack Studio on Yellowtrace here.