Prehistoric Whales Become a Scent: Greenist Wins Ulsan Souvenir Design Award

Cultural Forge Greenist (문화대장간 그리니스트), a cultural content company headed by Choi Go-woon, said on August 18 that it had won an award at Ulsan's tourism souvenir design competition for the second consecutive year. This year it took the silver prize for "Petroglyph Scent: Bangucheon Essential," a plaster stone diffuser, after winning the gold prize in 2025 for the "Bangucheon Petroglyph Blanket." Both products drew the competition's attention for reinterpreting the petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream as souvenirs tied to contemporary daily life.

The award follows the July 2025 inscription of the "Petroglyphs Along the Bangucheon Stream" on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The site comprises the Bangudae petroglyphs in Daegok-ri, Ulju, and the inscriptions and petroglyphs at Cheonjeon-ri. Greenist has used them as the basis for expanding its product range into everyday-use souvenirs and plaster stone diffusers.

Last year's gold prize winner, the "Bangucheon Petroglyph Blanket," reworked the motifs of the rock carvings into a modern pattern, while "Petroglyph Scent: Bangucheon Essential" combines prehistoric motifs with fragrances drawn from Ulsan's natural landscape. What the two products share is the transfer of heritage imagery into a practical product form.

The plaster stone of "Petroglyph Scent: Bangucheon Essential" carries representative scenes from the Bangucheon petroglyphs, including a harpooned whale, a gray whale carrying its calf on its back, deer, tigers and figures hunting. The scents come in three varieties inspired by well-known natural settings in Ulsan: "Ganjeolgot Dawn," "Taehwa River Bamboo Grove" and "Yeongnam Alps."

"We have not stopped at transferring the imagery of the Bangucheon petroglyphs onto products; we have thought about how the stories and experience held by cultural heritage can be conveyed within life today," said Choi Go-woon, head of Cultural Forge Greenist. "Taking these two consecutive awards as a starting point, we plan to keep developing souvenirs and cultural content that let people experience Ulsan's various cultural heritage in new ways."

Cultural Forge Greenist is a cultural content company that plans and develops research, education and hands-on programmes based on regional cultural heritage. It handles both products and content drawn from cultural heritage, widening the range of uses for local resources.