Chwi

Chwi (취) is a South Korean fragrance and body-care brand based in Seoul and operated by Middle Studio INC. (주)미들스튜디오). Its perfumes, diffusers and washes are built around Korean places and traditions — bamboo forests, temple incense, sea-swept mugwort — which the company reworks into scent. The brand name, 취, comes from the idea of being "intoxicated by tradition" [5].

The company was founded in March 2017 by Kim Eun-bi (김은비), who remains its chief executive [5]. A 2019 founding date has occasionally been cited elsewhere, but the founder's own account places the start in 2017. Chwi is active, publishing brand-story journal entries and running seasonal promotions into 2026 [3].

Chwi began as a graduate-school project. Kim Eun-bi studied graphic design as an undergraduate and worked at a marketing agency for about two years before enrolling in a design-management program at Hongik University, where a first seminar assignment on traditional culture set the direction. She has said that most stores around her carried mainly Northern European or Japanese brands, which prompted her to make products expressing Korea's own aesthetic [5].

The name reflects that aim: the company describes 취 (Chwi) as meaning "to be intoxicated by tradition" [5]. The parent company's name, Middle Studio, points to a related idea — connecting tradition with modernity, and brands with consumers. In the founder interview the team is described as two co-founders working with an intern, a small operation at the time of writing.

Chwi's range centers on fragrance. Its perfumes are named for Korean scenes and materials, among them Daenamu (bamboo), Sachal (temple), Ssook (mugwort), Hwawon and Sumuk (ink). Bamboo-craft diffusers are a signature format, sold in variants the founder has described as "Bamboo Forest with Wind" and "Bamboo Forest with Rain" [5]. The line extends into body care, including a Goryeo celadon hand and body wash and matching hand creams.

Design is part of the product. One retailer notes that Chwi's perfume caps are shaped after palanquins from the Joseon Dynasty, tying the packaging to the brand's cultural storytelling [6]. The founder has said the brand sells 38 products across five categories.

The company frames its scents as expressions of "what is truly ours," reinterpreting real Korean settings — a forest path, a wooden temple, a hill by the sea — as fragrance. Its tagline, 한국의 향, translates as "the scent of Korea." A flagship store sits in the Bukchon hanok district of Seoul, among traditional houses, where the brand invites visitors to experience a Korean scent in a historic setting.

An early Tumblbug crowdfunding campaign exceeded its funding goal by 1,220 percent, and the company later secured its first investment round [5]. The founder has also described year-over-year revenue roughly doubling in the brand's early period.

From 2023 onward Chwi built a business in corporate gifts and collaborations. It developed a signature scent for the Korea Gallery and prepared VIP gifts for Onitsuka Tiger in 2023, along with mugwort diffuser and hand-cream sets for Korea's Incheon Tourism Organization and the Sejong Center. In 2024 it produced a bamboo-and-flower-garden hand cream with the designer Danha and H&M, and a home-fragrance gift set with SRT. In 2025 the collaborations extended to a Chloé VIC gift and a "Haechi" plaster diffuser and scent-dropper set with the Seoul city government [4].

Chwi is owned and operated by Middle Studio INC. (주)미들스튜디오), a Seoul company led by Kim Eun-bi [1]. The brand is sold directly in South Korea and reaches other markets mainly through K-beauty distributors and retailers.

Chwi is active. Through mid-2026 it continued to publish its editorial "Journal," with an eighth entry appearing in July 2026, alongside recurring seasonal promotions [3].