For Professor Lee by BELLOCO at Hangzhou Plaza 66, we designed a very special pair of 6.5-inch vintage horn speakers.

They are not merely objects for playing music, but part of the atmosphere of the space.

Professor Lee’s interior is centered around contemporary Korean ceramic art. Raw clay, kiln-fired textures, aged wood, brick walls, and metal structures overlap with one another, making the restaurant feel like a ceramic art museum where guests can dine. In response to this setting, we shaped the speakers with a northern-inspired vintage aesthetic: rugged and quiet, yet carrying a deep emotional weight.
The horn uses a Fostex H550 1-inch aluminum horn, paired with a custom fonoco audio 1-inch high-frequency compression driver, and a rubber-surround 6.5-inch aerospace aluminum cone mid-woofer.

Sonically, the mid and high frequencies are clean, articulate, and highly penetrating, with a precision close to that of studio monitors. The bass is dynamic, tight, and well controlled, maintaining clarity and presence within a dining environment.

We wanted the speakers to echo the ceramic works of Professor LEE INCHIN. Just as the artist’s hands leave traces of strength in clay, the horn, woodwork, and metal drivers leave traces of sound being shaped.

The low, house-like form feels like a quiet return to memories of home. The front waveguide projects a stable, powerful low end, supporting the delicate warmth of the high-frequency voice. Ruggedness and tenderness, old and new, strength and comfort are all held within these speakers.

They feel like a sound from family memory: the low frequencies are steady and weighty, like the firm protection of an elder who does not need many words; the high frequencies are delicate and warm, like a word of comfort slowly unfolding by the ear. Roughness and softness exist together in this pair of speakers.

Inside Professor Lee, tableware is art, cuisine is experience, and sound becomes another work to be felt.

Founded in Shanghai in 2011, BELLOCO was created with the goal of advocating a fresh dining culture. The team was formed by a group of young people with dreams and passion for the restaurant industry. Every brand is a story. With its imagination for fresh dining and a distinctive brand philosophy, BELLOCO’s restaurants are never just restaurants; they are cultural experience spaces that consistently set new trends.

Today, BELLOCO operates 6 brands and 15 locations. Its first brand, “BELLOCO,” focuses on creative Korean cuisine and has been widely praised over the past 12 years. “Professor LEE,” the group’s second brand, was created in collaboration with LEE INCHIN, professor of ceramics at Hongik University in Korea. Inspired by the fresh ingredients and rugged dining style experienced in Professor Lee’s studio, the brand presents a union of traditional Korean ceramic art and innovative Korean cuisine.

“JEU SAGYE” means “the four seasons of Jeju.” Its fully open kitchen stands like a stage at the center of the restaurant, where the chef and team openly reveal their ingredients and cooking methods, guiding guests through the beauty of Jeju Island’s four seasons through food.

“Potong Sikdang,” a traditional Korean cold pork belly restaurant inspired by the 1980s, evokes the feeling of enjoying a warm and delicious barbecue meal lovingly prepared by a grandmother for her family. In Korean, “wave” is called “PADO.” With an imagination of a small seaside tavern at night, “PADO” was born in the name of the waves.

PADO builds “the wave” through Korean drinking culture, music, and art, forming an abstract aesthetic whole. “FOTY” stands for “from oven to you,” serving only Kouign-amann freshly baked within 20 minutes. This specialty pastry from Brittany, France offers a crisp caramelized surface and a soft, layered interior in every bite.

With its unique and captivating brand spirit, BELLOCO follows the philosophy of doubled happiness: making employees happier, making guests happier, and treating every arriving guest with sincerity. BELLOCO has become one of Shanghai’s most beloved restaurant groups among young diners. BELLOCO’s creations are never copies, but art-like, custom inspirations. Bringing together different philosophical expressions, the group continues to launch fresh and playful new brands from time to time, creating new waves in the dining scene.

The spatial core of Professor Lee lies in fully integrating contemporary Korean ceramics into the dining environment. It is not merely decorative, but a complete artistic experience formed through architectural texture, installations, and tableware.

The original Shanghai K11 location features a double-height structure, exposed steel staircases, vintage red brick walls, and aged wooden furniture. It blends a rugged industrial style with the gentle, earthy texture of Eastern clay. The restaurant displays a large number of works by LEE INCHIN, professor of ceramics at Hongik University in Korea, including ceramic hanok courtyard installations and large kiln-fired ceramic vessels, scattered throughout the dining area and corridors. The entire restaurant feels like a small ceramic exhibition space where guests can sit down and dine.

The most representative element is the full set of handmade kiln-fired tableware, all personally crafted by Lee Inchin and shipped from Korea. No two pieces have exactly the same texture, and the bottom of each bowl is marked with the character “Lee.” The unglazed rough clay feels humble and raw; food is served directly on works of art, realizing the idea that “tableware is art.” The overall lighting is soft and dim, reducing the noise of the shopping mall and creating a quiet atmosphere suited for dates and deeper gatherings, turning the dining experience into an exhibition-like encounter.

Later locations at Grand Gateway and Hangzhou Plaza 66 continue this core logic of “ceramics + dining,” while adjusting the spatial language according to each site. The Hangzhou Plaza 66 location directly takes the “ceramic museum” as its design theme, recreating the imagery of a kiln.

High-End Fusion Korean Cuisine Beyond the Traditional Korean Dining Framework

As an elevated high-end branch of the BELLOCO group, Professor Lee differs from the more accessible creative Korean cuisine of the parent brand. It targets urban consumers who pursue aesthetic experiences and redefines the image of Korean cuisine.

Most traditional Korean restaurants focus on barbecue, kimchi, or army stew, emphasizing authenticity and homestyle comfort. Professor Lee, by contrast, follows a fusion route built on Korean foundations with Western cooking techniques and presentation. The brand name comes from the cross-disciplinary collaboration between two “Professor Lees”: ceramic artist Lee Inchin, who is responsible for the space and tableware, and culinary developer Lee Sang-min, who is responsible for menu development. This “two Professor Lees” concept is itself the brand’s strongest identity.

The brand’s core proposition is not simply to eat Korean food, but to bring together art, dining, and experience. Guests come here not only to taste the dishes, but also to encounter ceramic culture. With an average spend of RMB 140-180 per person, it sits between casual Korean dining and high-end Western restaurants, positioning itself for refined urban gatherings, dates, and light social occasions. It turns “art dining” into an accessible everyday experience.

Compared with the parent brand BELLOCO, the two share some menu items, but Professor Lee upgrades the spatial aesthetics, tableware, and overall sense of ceremony. It aims to break the common stereotype that Korean food is only lively and affordable, proving that Korean cuisine can also possess a museum-level dining environment.

The Influence of the Original Shanghai K11 Location

K11 itself is a benchmark for the integration of commerce and art in Shanghai’s shopping mall scene. By opening on the fourth floor of K11, Professor Lee stood on the stage of art commerce from the beginning, becoming one of the pioneering examples of art-driven creative Korean dining in China.

1. Redefining the Korean Dining Category and Inspiring the Fusion Korean Cuisine TrendAt a time when Shanghai’s Korean restaurant market was dominated by traditional barbecue restaurants, the K11 location opened up a new category of refined creative Korean cuisine through its ceramic-inspired aesthetic space and fusion menu. After opening, it remained near the top of Shanghai’s Korean restaurant rankings on Dianping for a long period. At its peak, long queues formed before service, and ticket scalping even appeared. It became a phenomenon-level restaurant in Shanghai and inspired many later fusion Korean brands to adopt the model of “spatial aesthetics + cross-disciplinary art.”
2. A Demonstration for Commercial Spaces: Art Is Not Only for Exhibitions, but Also for DiningK11 has long been known for placing art installations in public mall spaces, while Professor Lee brought art fully into the restaurant interior. Its tableware and installations are all original works by artists, making it a classic example of “dining as exhibition” within commercial real estate. It proved that restaurants do not only fill the stomach; they can also serve as vehicles for cultural expression. This also encouraged more high-end malls to bring in restaurant brands with artistic attributes.
3. Establishing the Foundation for National Expansion and a Standard Brand TemplateThe success of the original K11 location validated the feasibility of the entire business model. Later locations at Grand Gateway, Hangzhou Plaza 66, and beyond all continued the brand DNA established by the K11 restaurant: ceramic installations, handmade rough-clay tableware, and a fusion Korean menu, with spatial adjustments made according to different cities. This gradually allowed the art-driven Korean dining model born in Shanghai to be replicated in other first-tier cities.
4. A Model for Social Media CommunicationIts distinctive rough ceramic tableware, highly textured space, and dishes that combine visual appeal with strong flavors make it highly suitable for social media sharing. Early coverage by food KOLs and media outlets turned it into more than just a restaurant; it became a Shanghai culinary landmark. When people talk about creative Korean cuisine, they often think of Professor Lee by BELLOCO.