The Kosmosis is a continuing series of Korean culture books exploring the places, people, histories, and everyday sensibilities that shape Korea today.
Through essays, photography, and cultural observation, each volume looks beyond familiar images to examine the histories, habits, sensibilities, and contradictions that continue to shape Korea today.
Created, written, photographed, and designed by Taeyun Paik in Seoul.
Koreanness
The Kosmosis Vol. 2
To cherish what already exists and make what is ours more fully our own.
As the world pays unprecedented attention to Korea, Koreanness asks whether the country being seen truly reflects the lives and sensibilities of the people who live here.
Through photography and short essays, the book looks for Korean identity in the places where it often appears most honestly: ordinary streets, familiar gestures, everyday objects, inherited attitudes, and landscapes marked by change.
Rather than defining Korea through grand symbols, Koreanness offers a more intimate portrait of the cultural patterns and emotional structures that shape contemporary Korean life.
2026 · 144 pages · Korean and English · 176 × 250 mm
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Perspectives, Places and People.
The Kosmosis Vol. 1
The first volume of The Kosmosis explores contemporary Korea through three interconnected lenses.
Perspectives examines the ideas and sensibilities shaping Korean culture.
Places looks at cities and neighbourhoods as expressions of history, identity, and change.
People introduces the individuals whose work and ways of living reveal something distinctive about Korea today.
Blending photography, essays, and cultural reflection, the book moves beyond familiar headlines to capture the overlooked beauty, tensions, and rhythms of everyday Korean life.
Originally created for international readers, Vol. 1 marked the beginning of Kosmosis as a long-form editorial and publishing practice.
2025 · 116 pages · English · 176 × 250 mm
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Distribution & Stockists
The Kosmosis books are available through selected bookstores in Korea, the Kosmosis online store, and Kindle for international readers.
Online
- Kosmosis Online
- Kyobo
- Aladin
- Yes24
- Amazon (eBook)
Offline
Maison Kosmosis
1F, 129 Shinheung-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
Kyobo Book Centre
Selected locations nationwide
Storage Book & Film
HBC
Availability may vary by location.
For stockist and distribution enquiries,
contact hello@thekosmosis.com