BTS Unveils 2026 DALMAJUNG Collection, Fusing Joseon-Era Munjado Art With ARIRANG
BTS has once again turned to Korea’s cultural archives for creative inspiration, launching a new chapter of its DALMAJUNG merchandise series that reinterprets centuries-old folk art through the lens of the group’s current musical era.
The 2026 DALMAJUNG collection, unveiled by agency HYBE, draws on Joseon Dynasty munjado painting and weaves it into the visual identity of BTS’s fifth studio album, ARIRANG, resulting in a 13-piece lineup that looks less like typical fan merchandise and more like a small museum gift shop curated specifically for ARMY.
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The collection went on sale September 29, 2026, alongside the opening of a pop-up store at HYBE Yongsan in Seoul. It represents the fourth installment in the DALMAJUNG series overall, and the second time HYBE has partnered directly with the National Museum Foundation of Korea to produce it — a collaboration that continues to blur the line between K-pop merchandising and cultural preservation.
What Is DALMAJUNG, and Why Does It Matter?
For those unfamiliar with the series, DALMAJUNG isn’t a one-off marketing gimmick — it’s become one of BTS’s more meaningful recurring collaborations, distinct from the group’s usual concert merchandise or album-cycle goods.
The name and concept center on Korean traditional aesthetics, with each edition since its debut in 2021 drawing on a different facet of the country’s heritage.
The most recent prior edition, released in 2024, launched around Hangeul Day — the national holiday celebrating the creation of the Korean alphabet — and pulled its visual language from six artifacts holding national-treasure status at the National Museum of Korea, produced under the museum’s MU:DS merchandise brand.
That release, alongside 2021 and 2022 predecessors, established the format the 2026 collection now builds on: taking historical Korean art forms and reinterpreting them as everyday, wearable, and displayable objects for a global fanbase that spans continents and generations.
What makes the series notable isn’t just the aesthetic mashup — it’s the access it provides. Because the National Museum Foundation of Korea is a direct partner, DALMAJUNG items typically carry design elements sourced from actual museum holdings, giving fans a tangible (if commercial) connection to pieces of Korean cultural history that most would otherwise only see behind glass.
The 2026 Concept: Munjado Meets ARIRANG
This year’s collection centers on munjado, a genre of Joseon-era folk painting in which decorative imagery — flowers, animals, everyday objects — is worked into or wrapped around the brushstrokes of large Chinese characters, each character typically representing a Confucian virtue like filial piety, loyalty, or integrity.
It’s a folk-art style historically associated with well-wishing and moral instruction, often displayed in homes to bring good fortune or reinforce values within a household.
HYBE’s design team took that visual grammar and merged it with BTS’s own symbolism from ARIRANG, the group’s fifth studio album, alongside Hangul-based graphic design. The result is a collection where traditional Korean iconography and contemporary BTS branding sit side by side rather than one simply decorating the other — closer to a genuine crossover than a licensing exercise.
The products themselves lean heavily into a “lifestyle” register rather than conventional band merch. Rather than T-shirts and lightsticks, the emphasis is on small objects meant to live in a fan’s everyday space: things for a desk, a bag, or a shelf.
The Full 13-Piece Lineup
Based on HYBE’s official previews and retailer listings, the 2026 DALMAJUNG collection includes:
- Keyboard — a graphic keyboard available as a Weverse Shop pre-order exclusive
- Jar — a ceramic jar carrying the collection’s munjado-inspired motifs
- Incense Holder — designed to pair with the collection’s incense sticks
- Incense Stick (BTS version)
- Incense Stick (ARIRANG version)
- Fortune Magnet — a pollock-shaped magnet symbolizing good luck, a nod to a recurring motif in traditional Korean folk art
- Graphic Mat — a patterned mat featuring the collection’s munjado-based artwork
- Graphic Keyring — a keychain carrying the same graphic motifs
- Coaster Set
- Mini Pouch Bag & Gonggi — a compact pouch modeled on the collection’s jar design, bundled with a traditional gonggi game set (seven playing stones, used in a classic Korean children’s game)
- Mini Broom — a miniature desk broom, continuing the collection’s small-object, desk-accessory focus
- Bracelet
- Necklace
The range spans from purely decorative pieces (the jar, incense holder, coasters) to functional accessories (the bracelet, necklace, keyring) and even a playful nod to Korean childhood games via the gonggi set — giving the collection more variety in use-case than a typical merch drop, where most items tend to cluster around apparel or photo cards.
Where to Buy It
The collection is being distributed through three channels:
- Weverse Shop, HYBE’s official global platform for fan merchandise, handling online orders and international shipping.
- The National Museum of Korea’s museum shop (specifically Museum Shop 2), continuing the collection’s grounding in an actual cultural institution rather than a purely commercial retail space. This channel’s sales window is scheduled to run longer than the Seoul pop-up, extending into late November.
- A pop-up store at HYBE Yongsan, running from September 29 through October 11, 2026, in Seoul. The pop-up gives fans in Korea — and traveling ARMY — a chance to see and purchase the collection in person before it potentially sells out online.
The layered release strategy, combining an official retail platform, a museum storefront, and a limited-run physical pop-up, mirrors how HYBE has handled previous DALMAJUNG drops: treating the line less like standard tour merchandise and more like a limited cultural product with a defined shelf life.
Why This Collaboration Keeps Working
There’s a reason HYBE keeps returning to this format instead of simply issuing more conventional merchandise. BTS has spent years positioning itself as a cultural ambassador for Korea on the world stage, and the DALMAJUNG series is one of the more literal expressions of that positioning.
Taking specific, sourced elements of Korean art history (rather than generic “traditional” aesthetics) and packaging them for a global audience that might otherwise have no exposure to munjado painting, gonggi games, or Joseon-era folk symbolism at all.
For the National Museum Foundation of Korea, the partnership offers something valuable in return: visibility.
A museum shop item is one thing; a museum shop item tied to one of the most-followed music groups on the planet is another.
The 2024 edition’s timing around Hangeul Day suggests this isn’t incidental — these releases are deliberately anchored to moments of cultural significance, not just album promotion cycles.
For fans, the appeal is twofold.
There’s the collectible value that comes with any limited-run BTS merchandise, but there’s also a genuine educational hook: items like the munjado-patterned mat or the gonggi set come with built-in cultural context that a standard tour hoodie doesn’t carry. Whether that context gets fully absorbed by casual buyers is another question, but the intent — bridging heritage and pop culture rather than just borrowing from it — is consistent across all four editions of the series.
The Bottom Line
The 2026 DALMAJUNG collection is exactly what the original announcement described: a 13-item line built around Joseon-era munjado art and BTS’s ARIRANG album, sold through Weverse Shop and the National Museum of Korea, with a HYBE Yongsan pop-up running through October 11.
What’s worth adding is the context — this is the fourth DALMAJUNG release, the second built specifically with the National Museum Foundation of Korea, and part of a now-established pattern of BTS merchandise doubling as a showcase for Korean cultural heritage.
For collectors, it’s a chance at a limited, design-forward drop. For casual observers, it’s a fairly rare example of a global pop group using its commercial reach to put centuries-old folk art in front of an audience that spans the world.