"[I]t was contemporary artist and provocateur Tom Sachs who popularized Knoll’s last name as a shorthand for the method of 'arrang[ing] like objects in parallel or ninety-degree angles as a method of organization.'... The style boomed in marketing and advertising, known as 'flat-lay' photography.... [Knolling] feels more significant than just organizing tools in a workshop. Think of it as a picturesque and deliberate way of arranging that can be applied to our homes: Curate a vignette of sharply stacked novellas next to like-minded trinkets on your bedside table or hang your ceramic mugs and coffee gadgetry together like it belongs in an art gallery. Perhaps now is the year when knolling and Kondo-ing can meet somewhere in the middle. Get rid of the things you dislike, yes, but otherwise, embrace your tchotchkes and ephemera. Keep them and organize them with newfound order and purpose."
Curate a vignette of sharply stacked novellas next to like-minded trinkets on your bedside table.... Who would do that? A character in a novella? And what are "like-minded trinkets" — I didn't know trinkets had minds — and wouldn't elaborately stacked and arranged items on a bedside table scream that you're never going to do anything that would knock them over?
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29 comments:
It’s Dwell.
They’re singlemindedly focused on the idea of making all interiors look like they’re about to be featured in Dwell.
Uh... I have a knife block that fits in a drawer and aligns all my kitchen knives in parallel. Does that count?
I didn't know trinkets had minds
I don't know about minds, but some of them reproduce.
I can see the trinkets/books thing working. Stack of beach reads aligned with seashells, same with military books and militaria, history books and historic artifacts (or replicas). The bedside table is off limits, though. That is the province of my laptop and an occasional feline.
You’re supposed to have knickknacks that thematically relate to the books you’re reading?
Sounds like bullshit for someone who doesn’t read their books.
Get rid of the things you dislike, yes, but otherwise, embrace your tchotchkes and ephemera.
And after you've looked at said tchotchkes and ephemera every day for a year or two you'll get sick of it/them and send it/them to Goodwill or the dump.
My father used to say, "Seal it in a box, date it and if not opened after 12 months, throw it away unopened." I say do your heirs a favor.
For some reason this makes me think of The Menu movie. "Here is the bread course without any bread." Artistry isn't enough; now we need to add gadgetry. And then the art is so deconstructed it's a parody of itself.
It sounds exactly like what an AirBnB operator would choose to create ambience. I would do it at our seasonal Cape Cod cottage if I felt like it. Maybe some day I will, with nautical/fishing stuff. The trinkets catch the eye, spark interest, and, voila, books on the topic are right there. Hell, I might even hang a magnifying glass next to my mystery books. Sounds cool to me. Currently our books are just walls of spines, not that inspiring to look at.
For non-AirBnB purposes, I assume you already own "trinkets" that relate to your reading interests.
My wife is into Marie Kondo videos.
She is a somewhat disorganized person (compared to me). When she organizes things, they get stowed away in an inconvenient and undisclosed location. I have to ask where something is and she tears through things to find it.
It seems to me that being organized is more a state of mind than anything else.
How come "Kondo-ing" is upper-case and "knolling" is lower-case? They're both named after people. I'm guessing it's not so much a language and style issue, but because Marie Kondo employs high-priced intellectual-property lawyers.
You’re supposed to have knickknacks that thematically relate to the books you’re reading?
Or maybe the books spark an interest that you explore through physical means. When I was little and reading the Little House On the Prairie books, I made myself a bonnet out of scrap fabric and cajoled my mom into letting me bake a whole lot of biscuits and such. When Mary went blind in the books, I would get ready for school with my eyes closed at least once a week. My poor mother...
Later, when reading Dune in 7th grade, I pressed a like-minded (because she did have a mind, and it was like mine) into hunkering down in the basket formed by our biggest tree's lowest branches and reciting the Litany Against Fear and other notable Bene Gesserit hoohah every day after school.
When I was reading the Clan of the Cave Bear books, as a young twenty-something, I actually brought my stock of herbs to work during cold and flu season and compounded "medicinal" teas for anyone who wanted them, taking care to steer the pregnant coworker away from the herbs that could raise her blood pressure.
Just saying, some of us (utter nerds) get into our books in ways that others do not.
I have yet to read The Gulag Archipelago, which is probably good.
With regard to my comment about nerdy things I did when interested in a book, I'm anticipating some flak for the particular books I mentioned. Whatever.
These are the problems you have, when you live on the Moon.
How do I put the universe next to my cosmology books?
What about JK Rowling, a favorite author, now persona non grata? Maybe a big sign, BANNED READING BEING DONE. Yes, there's an idea. Get out my banned books and stack them on the coffee table with a sign: NOT READING THIS BADTHINK. Couple of Bibles, Ink Black Heart. Mid-Summer Night's Dream, Death of Socrates. It could be a revolving exhibit. The Constitution. Bradford's History of Plimoth Plantation.
OT, but RIP Jeff Beck… just saw him November 10th.
What a unique talent!!!
I was reading "U.S. ARMY IN THE KOREAN WAR Ebb & Flow November 1950 - July 1951" in my den with my cigar resting in a brass 105mm artillery casing cut off as an ash try. With a clean oiled .45 Colt 1911 ACP pistol on the shelf (with an empty magazine). Both courtesy of my Father in law, a 1LT company commander over B Company, 38th INF RGT, 2 INF DIV in Korea. The pistol was carried to the top of Pork Chop Hill at one time.
So I like to surround my books with trinkets.
I’ve seen photos of these arrangements in Reddit. People who collect items found on a beach and arrange them this way. Something visually pleasing/satisfying happens.
It also recalls the process of arranging the crashed airplane pieces in a big hanger floor. Not in a grid, but in the pattern that would recreate a two dimensional representation of what the airplane used to look like.
Maybe that’s how the idea came about.
It sounds like a recipe for a bad diet. Pass the cannolis.
I no longer let books, or any trinkets, get near my bedside table. Lamp (suitable to read by but not so-used), little water cup, and alarm clock only.
Soon after moving to this house is '06, I decided that I would no longer read in bed, which made the bedside library unnecessary. That was an excellent decision.
Otherwise I'm a bit like Steve Martin, who says he keeps all his possessions in piles.
“ For non-AirBnB purposes, I assume you already own "trinkets" that relate to your reading interests.”
So I just bought Kafka’s diaries. What objects would go with that?
"So I just bought Kafka’s diaries. What objects would go with that?"
I'm not sure.
As a general rule, people have too much stuff. It is crammed in basements, attics and self store units. It is kept mainly due to a belief in its value despite much of it having none.
Once you get down to a manageable amount of crap, then you can figure out how to fit it in your life. The few remaining important pieces, artfully displayed will have more impact to you than a pile of crap you forget about in a month.
Be like Anna people! Let it go!
None. Don't make a fetish of it. But think of the staging or decoration that goes on in every well appointed home.
Cockroaches?
I'm sure lots of people would see it as clutter but I like having stuff (doesn't need to be arranged in any specific fashion) sitting out where I can see it day in and day out. It's part of my life- mine, and my parents and grandparents...
And if I never hear the word "curate" again, it'll be too soon.
FYI -- In the ad business "flat-lay" is actually "lay flat" Don't know how the author got that one wrong.
How many ways are there to arrange a Kindle?
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