Lead image: MU:DS
A comb is a small place to meet a tiger. So is a packet of instant coffee. Between them sits a character who seems perfectly happy taking things slowly.
These are three starting points for Tigertify: a tiger-and-magpie comb from MU:DS, the character world of MUZIKTIGER, and McNulty’s Horaengi coffee. Each gives the animal a different role in everyday life. One becomes an object for a daily routine. Another offers a mood to recognise. A third brings its name to a coffee break.
Together, they suggest a way into Korean tiger design through things we might encounter on a bathroom shelf, beside a laptop, or in a kitchen cupboard.
A tiger and a magpie, ready for the everyday
MU:DS is the museum merchandise brand of the National Museum Foundation of Korea. It turns cultural heritage held in Korea’s national museums into objects for everyday life. Visitors to the National Museum of Korea in Seoul can explore the brand through its museum shops and dedicated brand space.
Its Tiger and Magpie Comb is listed among the selected works of the 2026 MU:DS product competition. The pictured range includes two amber-coloured tiger designs and a black-and-white magpie. On one tiger, an elongated body stretches along the comb; on the other, a broad face rises above the teeth. The magpie’s rounded silhouette makes a smaller, compact shape. Each animal gives the same everyday tool a different outline.
That choice of object is what interests us first. A comb belongs to the small, repeated actions of getting ready. Giving it a pair of animal companions makes that routine a place for a little amusement. There is room here for an object to be useful and to make someone smile each time they reach for it.
It also makes a promising opening question for this journal: what happens when an animal becomes part of an ordinary gesture? Looking for a tiger can lead us to consider the whole object, including where it belongs in a day.
A tiger taking its time
MUZIKTIGER introduces its central character, Toffee, as a plump, easygoing tiger. The brand connects that character with familiar worries and emotions, the freedom to move at your own pace, and the comfort of being enough as you are.
On the green laptop pouch pictured here, an orange tiger lies on its back beside a laptop and an iced drink. The laptop stays open; the tiger has settled into a break. The contrast makes a familiar working-day mood easy to recognise.
Here, personality gives us something to follow. A tiger can carry a feeling: the wish for a quieter afternoon, permission to pause, or the pleasure of recognising your own mood in a character.
That is an appealing starting point for looking at character goods. We can ask how a pose or expression carries across an object, and whether we would still enjoy its company after the first smile. Affection often begins with something very particular about a character. Learning to name that detail is part of the pleasure.
A tiger taking a break, on a laptop pouch. Source: MUZIKTIGER
A tiger at coffee break
McNulty’s official range includes a 20-stick instant black coffee called Horaengi, with a five-grain aroma described in its product name. The tiger enters this everyday encounter through the name of something made for a cup.
On the box, a wide-eyed tiger holds a cup. A magpie appears in the upper corner, while the large TIGER COFFEE lettering sits beside the animal’s face. The tiger is taking part in the very coffee break the product invites.
For Tigertify, that little scene is worth a second look. The animal is given something to do, and the cup links its world with the drinker’s. The package offers a small story before the kettle has boiled.
Coffee packaging belongs within that curiosity, alongside stationery, ceramics, and character goods. It offers another place to look for how a familiar animal is given a contemporary voice.
Source: Instagram @fairtradekorea
Small encounters, different personalities
A comb, an easygoing character, a tiger holding a coffee cup. These examples give us three different encounters with a tiger, and three possible beginnings for a closer look.
This is where Tigertify starts: with a particular object or idea, then the details that make us want to stay with it. We will follow the people who make these things, the feelings they invite, and the everyday places they find their way into.
This introduction is based on the brands’ official online information and the product images shown here. The products have not been tested in person.
