The function of history is divided into two: justification and reflection. Justification confers causality on the consequences of history, and thereby putting emphasis on the inevitability of present. From the perspective of reflection, on the other hand, history is what is selected from several possibilities, and in this respect, present is not necessarily inevitable. The former is conservative; the latter, reformative. History, however, takes both of the functions. History reproduces a community by preserving memories of the community through a record, and leads to the evolution of a community through reflection. Emerged in the precess of industrialization, Korean design, despite its relatively short history, is witnessing a growing desire to prove its existence through history. While, it is also noteworthy that there is an increasing interest in looking at the history of Korean design from the perspective of reflection. I propose four propositions necessary to study of the history of Korean design. They are as follow; 1) History is interpretation; 2) The history of the institution should be overcome; 3) A simplifying progressive view of history should be restrained; 4) Foundation for study should be established.