The first thing visitors noticed during the weekend at Akan in Jubilee Hills was not the stalls or the performances. It was the energy. The kind that drifts through a space when hundreds of people are discovering something together. As the sun softened over the lakeside venue, families, K-culture enthusiasts, fashion lovers and curious first-timers wandered through three floors of experiences at The Look East Edition, a collaboration between Late Checkout and Seoulful that turned an ordinary weekend into a miniature cultural escape.
From Korean skincare counters and fashion labels to anime merchandise, jewellery, workshops and steaming bowls of noodles, every corner seemed to offer a new reason to stop.
For many, the charm lay in the variety. One moment, visitors were browsing handcrafted accessories, and the next, they were watching a kendo demonstration or stepping into a hanbok-themed photobooth. The rooftop hummed with workshops and performances, while fashion, beauty and lifestyle brands found eager audiences across all floors.
“I had a wonderful time exploring a Korean pop-up exhibition at Akan, which featured everything from skincare and food to live workshops and global jewellery. I spent the day roaming around the vibrant stalls and even picked up a few beautiful jewellery pieces. Overall, it was an incredibly fun and engaging experience,” said Sonal Makhana, a visitor at the event.
Behind the colourful stalls and carefully curated experiences was Priyanjana Roy Das, founder of Late Checkout and Swathi Yarabolu, founder of Seoulful. Talking about what inspired her to curate this pop-up, Priyanjana says, “Honestly, it grew out of how much Korean and Japanese culture has woven itself into everyday life here. The music, the skincare rituals, the food, the way people dress. We’d done Seoulful before and felt there was room to widen the lens beyond just Korea and let East Asian culture as a whole have a moment. ‘Look East’ became our way of inviting people to discover that world without needing a passport.”
The event was designed almost like a story unfolding floor by floor, with each level carrying its own mood and personality. Rather than presenting culture as something to be simply observed, the organisers wanted people to participate in it through food, fashion, beauty, workshops and performances. “Because culture isn’t one-dimensional. You don’t just watch it, you taste it, wear it, try it on your own skin. We wanted people to engage with East Asian culture from every angle rather than observe it from a distance. Bringing all of it under one roof turns a night out into something you actually participate in,” Priyanjana explains.
For small businesses, the pop-up also became a platform to connect with new audiences. Among them was The Minimal Luxury, a perfume brand that began only a few months ago. “At the start, I was very scared because we started this business recently. But the response has been great. I am very satisfied and happy,” said founders Manvi Jain and Sakshi Jain.
Yet as evening settled in and dance workshops gave way to performances under the open sky, the mood remained upbeat. The queues, conversations and bustling stalls suggested that Hyderabad’s appetite for immersive cultural experiences is only growing. “We see The Look East Edition as a platform we can keep evolving, with different themes, deeper cultural explorations, and new collaborations each time. This edition was a first chapter, and we’re already thinking about where it goes next,” Priyanjana concludes.