South Korean textile designer Mina Kim has bridged ancient craft and smart technology with her "Koong" collection. The project uses conductive silk threads embedded with NFC chips to digitize traditional hanbok patterns, allowing wearers to unlock AR stories about their cultural significance.

Kim's breakthrough lies in developing temperature-sensitive dyes that shift hues based on body heat, mimicking the iridescence of traditional celadon pottery. Each garment features modular components that can be disassembled and reconfigured via an app, promoting circular fashion practices.

The collection debuted at Seoul Fashion Week, with South Korea's Cultural Heritage Administration designating Kim's weaving techniques as Intangible Cultural Property. The project has spurred textile mills to revive 17 endangered loom models, while MIT's Media Lab invited Kim to co-develop wearable tech for museum exhibits.

"This is not about replacing tradition," Kim emphasized. "It's about creating bridges between ancestral wisdom and future possibilities."