Demie Kim

At ZEST in Seoul, the co-founder role places Demie Kim inside a drinks culture that is still taking shape. The work reads as accumulation rather than arrival: building a bar program, refining its standards, and helping define the terms of a scene that is growing in confidence and scale.

She remains co-founder at ZEST, and that continuity matters in a fast-moving cocktail market. The craft here is not just service but maintenance and direction—holding a bar’s identity steady while contributing to the wider evolution of Korea’s cocktail culture. In that context, Demie Kim’s influence is visible in the day-to-day discipline of the room and in the broader shape of what ZEST signals for what comes next.