Amorepacific has led the company with a consistent dream of ‘contributing to the humanity by creating beauty and healthy well-being through technology and sincerity’. Currently, we are finding importance in and focusing on unique beauty that all existing beings have with a mission that “We make A MORE beautiful world”. We are proceeding step-by-step to create the world of New Beauty where everyone discovers and realizes one’s own beauty. At Amorepacific, there are people who create a beautiful world through the same or different methods, but ultimately, by pursuing the same values. NewsSquare tells the story about people who complete beauty with the world as the stage.

The fifth hero is the founder of Amorepacific and former Chairman, Jangwon Suh Sung-whan.

Former Chairman Suh Sung-whan was born in 1924, during the period of Japanese colonialism, in Pyeongsan, Hwanghae-do Province. He entered the cosmetics business at an early age by helping his mother, who was a merchant in Gaeseong, and steadily paved his way through a single path for nearly a century. Such a life of former Chairman Suh sung-whan is in line with the modern and contemporary history of Korea. Even in turbulent times when there was more despair than hope because of things like poverty caused by the colonial economic system, forced labor under the Japanese colonialism, and the outbreak of the Korean War, his life, which was filled with continuous discovery and pursuit for beauty alongside pure passion for cosmetics, always shined brightly with vitality. Journey of former Chairman Suh Sung-whan could be even more beautiful because all steps that he took were aimed towards people and the world. Establishing the Pacific Museum to preserve and to succeed the traditional culture, jumping into the tea business to restore our tea even while suffering a loss, striving hard for the welfare of female breadwinners in remembrance of his mother, and so forth, former Chairman Suh Sung-whan was a human being who always pondered about the means to make the world beautiful before he was a businessman who prioritized economic interests. At the current timepoint, when the former Chairman Suh Sung-whan’s dream of taking a leap into the world, to the extent that he would place a large globe on his desk and spin it so many times that some parts of it were erased, has borne fruit, isn’t it probably so that Amorepacific is loved across the world because it is based on such a philosophy of late former Chairman Suh Sung-whan? We met with former Chairman Suh Sung-whan, who founded Amorepacific, a company that creates beauty, and left countless forms of beauty in the world. (*This is an imaginary interview that was formed based on the autobiography and the recordings that late former Chairman Suh Sung-whan left behind.)

Q. Mr. Chairman, I understand that your mother, Ms. Yun Dok-jeong had a great impact in your decision to enter the world of cosmetics. She started her business by selling camellia oil that she made herself in the kitchen, and this became so popular that she officially entered into the business by establishing Changseong Store, the foundation of Amore Pacific, in 1937. In your view, what was different about the camellia oil that your mother made?

Above all, my mother’s camellia oil had excellent quality. The image of my mother, standing in front of a large steaming cauldron, peeling dark brown berries, grinding them into fine powder, putting the powder on an oil press and squeezing out the camellia oil, is still fresh in my memory. It was a laborious process that took a lot of care, and she also made a lot of efforts to serve hot meals to the travelling merchants so that she could get high quality camellia fruit from the southern regions. I became in charge of supplying the raw ingredients after graduating from the elementary school, and I used to travel approximately 70 km to and back from Seoul, where Namdaemun Market was located, with a bag containing three lunch boxes for the day, on my old bicycle. I remember that darkness would have already fallen on Gaeseong, when I came back from the market with a load of ingredients, after having wandered around the market, looking for the best ingredients.

Q. I am curious about the learnings that you gained through your experience in working with your mother.

My mother taught me how to make cosmetics after I accumulated knowledge about the overall ingredients that go into cosmetics by traveling back and forth between Gaeseong and Seoul for about a year. The manufacturing process only consisted of mixing water and oil and stirring the mixture while applying heat, but on numerous occasions, I had already witnessed different outcomes resulting from small differences in the ratio of water to oil, or the intensity of the heat, just as how a dish that is made with same ingredients can taste different, depending on the person that cooked the dish. At the time, my mother said that “you may steal technology, but you cannot steal a posture”, and this was a lesson that I always reminded myself about in all my years of business.

Q. I understand that you endured hardships because you were forcibly conscripted by the Japanese to fight in the Pacific War while you were diligently learning the business of Changseong Store. After finally celebrating liberations in 1945, you came back to Gaeseong and changed the name of the store from Changseong Store to ‘Pacific Chemical’. Why did you change the name of the company at the time?

After having lost the Pacific War, the Japanese government discharged Korean youths who had been forcibly conscripted and dragged to Beijing with only two months' worth of rice. We were free, but we didn’t know how to get home from an unfamiliar foreign country. First, we decided to find ways to go back to our hometown while staying at a temporary home. While staying in Beijing, I faced a vast world, when I visited the Da Zha Lan Market that was filled with 500 years of tradition. This aspired me and made me desire to one day go out into the wider world and sell Korean cosmetics. After returning to Gaeseong, I told my family members that I would like to change the name of the store to ‘Pacific Chemical’. This was because the Pacific is the largest ocean in the world, and a gateway that we must pass through to go out into the world.

Q. If we were to look into the initial activities of Pacific, such as sensible trademark with gorgeously blooming red rose applied on ‘Melody Cream’ launched in 1984 and development of the purely plant-based pomade, ‘ABC Pomade’, for the first time in Korea even amidst the Korean War in 1951, endless considerations on quality and challenging actions are indeed noticeable. I believe such a stance is continuing to the current Amorepacific.

There was a time when I dyed Japanese military uniforms and sold them to earn living expense before I returned home from Beijing. I was able to dye the uniform without any smudges after having taken care to do the job with the dye several times, and the uniforms sold quickly. At the time, I learned the meaning of life, that ‘wherever we are, good products sell’. To fulfill our dream to take steps towards the world, high quality products that we are not ashamed to put out anywhere has to be manufactured, and in particular, competitive edge has to be secured in science and technology. Technology advances, and if we only go forward with what we have learned, we will eventually fall behind. For the same reason, I built a research lab for the first time in the Korean cosmetics industry after achieving success with ABC Pomade. I emphasizes the importance of quality whenever I had time, and thankfully, Amorepacific has carried on my intention without forgetting about it.

Q. Mr. Chairman, I understand that you had a special aspiration for France, the home of cosmetics. In early 1990s, you started manufacturing products after establishing a local office in Chartres, France, and you successfully launched the perfume, Lolita Lempicka, in 1997. Which experience did you base this on?

In 1960, just a decade after the Korean War, I toured Europe for 40 or so days upon invitation by the French cosmetics giant, Coty. I was desperate to secure technology at the time, and the answer could not be obtained in Korea. The only way to find an answer was to gain the advanced technology of the overseas countries, and thus, I left for Europe with high expectations. I had a tour of Coty for the first three days after having arrived in France. I was able to see dozens of ingredient tanks and automated production processes in a tall 3-story factory built on a large piece of land with an area exceeding 10,000 pyeong. I could not help but stop every few steps while touring the factory. That was when I came up with a goal to eventually build a modern factory that is equally impressive in Korea and be able to sell products made with our own hands in France. It was sort of as if I could see another milestone that I should achieve as a businessman.

Q. Was there any lessons-learned from the Europe tour that you applied later in your business?

I took in the varying colors of water, earth and the smell of the atmosphere while visiting Grasse in the south of France, Hamburg, Germany, and Geneva, Switzerland. In particular, at a farm in Grasse, the home of perfume, I was able to identify the potential of plant-based raw ingredients when I observed the process of obtaining concentrates by compressing flower petals or hay. I thought, ‘Shouldn’t we also find a way to live beautifully with our own ingredients that are grown in our land?’, and afterwards, I began developing oriental medicine cosmetics with ginseng-based cosmetics as a start. It was a natural conclusion as I spent my childhood in Gaeseong where the scent of ginseng filled the streets.

Q. You made steady contributions in not only turning the beauty of Korea into a property, like ginseng-based cosmetics but also in conserving and succeeding the traditional culture. I heard that Pacific Museum, that was renamed as Amorepacific Museum of Art, currently located in the Amorepacific headquarters in Yongsan, was also intended by Mr. Chairman.

I always thought that the foundation of beauty that we create lies in traditional culture. Therefore, in the late 1960s, a sensational attempt was made to remove the production facility and to establish a museum in that space. Pacific Museum was completed through the establishment of Museum of Cosmetics History, which portrays the history of the cosmetics culture in Korea, in 1979, and the opening of Pacific Museum of Tea culture, which showcases a collection of the artifacts of tea culture, in 1981. The work of shaping and adorning the museum gave me a kind of joy and reward that was different from the emotion that I felt when running a business, I am extremely proud to see Amorepacific continuing to carry out various cultural mecenat activities such as Sulwha Culture Exhibition.

Q. Cultural activities through publishing also cannot be eliminated from the activities of Amorepacific. ＜Hyangjang＞ that is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year since the first issue is the oldest beauty magazine in Korea.

The importance of communication with consumers was realized since the start of the business, and the monthly beauty magazine, ＜Hwajang gye＞ was published for the first time in 1958 upon considerations on the effective method of communication. The name changed to ＜Nancho＞ in 1963 and ＜HyangJang＞ in 1972. The magazine contains not only information related to beauty but various contents such as columns on social issues and literatures. I think it is a special magazine in the sense that it shows a glimpse of past lifestyles and social aspects.

Q. Amorepacific has pioneered advertising in the Korean beauty industry, starting with the appearance of a model in the advertisement for the first time in the beauty industry in 1956 and with achievements such as having the first magazine advertisement in the cosmetics industry in 1957 and posting the first full-page color advertisement in a Korean newspaper in 1970. Do you have a philosophy on advertisement that is unique to you?

Consumables, and amongst these, cosmetics business is one where advertising is absolutely important. This is because it is effective in triggering human desire for beauty. 5% of revenue was used as advertisement even after firmly establishing a position in the cosmetics industry because the importance of it was well known. Advertisement is an asset, and not an expense. Asset of the future. We have to observe the long-term impact because the impact does not show up in the short-term.

Q. ‘Amore’ the door-to-door sales brand that was established in 1964 was a radical turning point in the history of Amorepacific. In particular, door-to-door sales led the explosive growth of Pacific in the 1960s~70s, and it became the foothold for Amorepacific to take the leap into becoming a cosmetics company that represents Korea. What triggered you to start door-to-door sales?

In the early 1960s, the distribution order had not been properly set, and as such, products of Pacific and counterfeit products were blatantly being sold in the same place in rural markets. I had to find a way to be able to deliver the actual products that we made with so much care. At the time, I remembered the memories of my youths where our neighbors visited us and had friendly chats with my mother in the master bedroom. The master bedroom of the time was a place where women gathered to talk comfortably with one another. Against this backdrop, I decided to start door-to-door sales where customers could choose the cosmetics that are fit for their own skin while directly applying the products and listening to the explanations in the master bedroom.

Q. Door-to-door sales provided an opportunity for women to take part in economic activities after the Korean War. It seems that women had always been at the center of customers who use the cosmetics products of Amore and the sales representatives who sell them.

When we were recruiting the sales representative for Amore, I focused on women of single-parent homes who were fighting another livelihood war after having lost their husbands at the front line of the war. I thought that we should create a venue where female breadwinners can work in. I had always been interested in the welfare of female breadwinners because I grew up with a mother who made the camellia oil to take care of the livelihoods of my family.

Q. On my recent trip to Jeju, I visited the Osulloc Tea Museum, operated by Amorepacific. At the museum, I learned that green tea, that used to be a high-end gourmet food enjoyed by only a few, could become a popular beverage enjoyed by people of all ages and gender, thanks to the efforts that you put in to industrialize and popularize green tea.

As a person who normally enjoys drinking green tea, I always thought that it was unfortunate that there were no representative tea to put forward in Korea when there are representative teas in other countries, such as coffee in US and black tea in UK. In the late-1970s when the cosmetics business of Pacific was extremely successful, I finally decided to take action to recover the traditional tea culture that is unique to Korea, which used to exist in the past but disappeared. I was in my late-50s, but I made hands-on effort to start purchasing wastelands in Seogwang and Dosun regions in Jeju Island and cultivate them. When I first convened an urgent meeting and told the management that I wanted to start the green tea business, of course, there were strong objections. In truth, despite having spent investment amounting to several billion Korean won when the business first started, revenue was only approximately 50 million Korean won. However, the green tea business was not just a ‘business’ to me. It was about recreating our culture and tradition.

Q. The mission of Amorepacific is ' We make A MORE beautiful world'. What does ‘beauty’ mean to you?

“In the early 1990s, when the company was facing a crisis due to a prolonged strike, together with my son, I thought about ‘what we could do if we were to start again from scratch and what we could do well’. At the time, I answered myself by saying, “I am going to make cosmetics even if I am born again. Cosmetics is my dream and my life, in itself, and I will not be able to discover any meaning in life without cosmetics”. “Beauty is the reason and purpose in life that I should pursue permanently.”

Q. You must have faced many crossroads as a businessman. What were your feelings at the moment of decision?

Of course, I had fears and concerns when I was operating Pacific. I was only 36 years old when I was running the company together with numerous employees. If it is now, I would have been the age of a manager or a senior manager at Amorepacific. I did falter many times prior to countless decisions that I made before I could grow Pacific Group to what it is now. However, I persuaded myself in this manner as well as my employees. Let us make a bold choice and go forward if the situation is an unavoidable one and let us be brave in taking the step forward without being nervous about it if this is the path that we decided on. If we diligently do our best at our own places without lying to our customers or to ourselves, we will have taken the leap to the next level.

Q. Finally, would you be able to leave a word of advice to the employees who are creating and practicing ‘New Beauty’ while spreading beauty across the world?

Amorepacific should not just be a company that sells cosmetics, but a company that focuses on the essence of beauty and makes the society we live in beautiful. I hope that you will remember that there is unique beauty that only we, with our wealth of experience and technology that had been accumulated over a long period of time, can deliver, and take pride as a creator of New Beauty. Most of all, I want to say that I am proud of and grateful to you all who are continuing to reach out to the world with a dream that is larger and higher than anything that I dreamed of.