Meekyoung Shin is known for her soap sculptures, and Lush stores in Glasgow, Liverpool and London Oxford Street are destinations where they can be not only appreciated but touched.
Korean Classic: In Use is a public art project by Shin, presented in partnership with the Korean Cultural Centre UK. Shin is in residence at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Scotland and with soap supplied by Lush, she created sculptures inspired by historical objects that will gradually take on a look of their own the more people interact with them. In September, the soap sculptures will be carefully repacked and sent to the Korean Cultural Centre UK in London, where they will go on display as part of The Unclassified exhibition, which will run through December 2026.
What's Driving This Trend
- Tactile Retail Art
- Interactive sculptures inside stores transform shopping spaces into sensory cultural venues, creating new value around dwell time, participation and brand memorability.
- Evolving Public Exhibits
- Artworks that visibly change through audience interaction introduce a living-exhibit model where consumer engagement becomes part of the creative outcome.
- Cultural Brand Collaborations
- Partnerships between retailers, artists and cultural institutions blur commerce and heritage, opening space for experiential storytelling tied to place and identity.
Who This Affects Most
- Retail
- Physical stores can differentiate from e-commerce by hosting immersive installations that turn product-adjacent environments into destination experiences.
- Art and Museums
- Audience-responsive materials offer cultural institutions fresh ways to document participation, preservation and transformation within contemporary exhibitions.
- Beauty and Personal Care
- Soap-based artworks reframe everyday personal care products as expressive design media, expanding brand associations beyond utility and fragrance.
