It’s been a few years since Marie Kondo first graced our screens with her paradigm-shifting mantra to “discard everything that does not spark joy.” But her philosophy has endured with many people around the world now re-embracing the minimalist aesthetic. Gone are the days of hoarding memorabilia and filling up storage spaces with rarely-used items. Minimalism is the new it-aesthetic for the modern urbanite.
Minimalism has a long history. Many people attribute modern minimalism to the Japanese Zen philosophy that places importance on simplicity to achieve inner peace. In the US, minimalism emerged in the 1960s as a reaction to the consumerist mentality birthed in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution. Today, it is a popular style of interior design that prizes practicality and affords a timeless elegance to your interiors that promise that no matter what the trend is, your home will never go out-of-style.
For many, the minimalist design aesthetic evokes imagery of white-on-white and soulless living spaces free of signs of inhabitation. But this isn’t necessarily what minimalism is. Minimalism is the pairing of form with function, and the idea that “less is more.” One of the many benefits of the minimalist aesthetic is its ability to make spaces look bigger by decluttering and paring down on furniture. And at a time when our homes have pretty much become our whole worlds, minimalism may just be the perfect aesthetic to experiment with.
Spring Clean for a Fresh Start
The first step to take when going down the minimalist path is decluttering. It’s important to first survey all that you have in your home, and really narrow down on what you need and what you don’t. It can be a painful process; it’s not exactly easy to let go of things that you have been holding onto for a long time. But in the long-term, decluttering can make you healthier and happier by reducing stress and improving focus, among numerous other benefits.
These health benefits of minimalism become even more important when people start spending more time at home. Nowadays, when work-from-home is on the rise and many businesses are transitioning to teleworking, creating a relaxing environment at home that is conducive for work is well-worth the effort.
But there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to decluttering. Just like everyone has different methods of organising their rooms, different people may also have different strategies of decluttering their living spaces that works best for them. If you are a home-organising whiz, then perhaps you’ll be perfectly comfortable with decluttering room-by-room. If you’re more faint-at-heart, you may prefer to declutter one-item-a-day. What matters is that you find the style that you are more comfortable with, and really commit to the process.
Functionality is Key
For the minimalist aesthetic, functionality is paramount. Everything must have a purpose. This means ridding yourselves of extraneous pieces of furniture that have no function. Think reuse here—your light therapy lamp, for example, can double as a showpiece to give your space a relaxed cool daylight vibe. Contrary to popular opinion, the minimalist aesthetic can reconcile sparsity with personality so that your house feels like a home.
There are many different types of minimalism aesthetics such as rustic minimalism, industrial minimalism and even the maximalist minimalist style that have their own unique features and are sure to satisfy diverse aesthetic tastes. Playing with textures and accent colors can often completely transform the look of a room, and affect the energy it exudes.
But a very real concern when styling homes is how all the individual pieces come together to create an atmosphere. When picking apart an existing style and transforming a space to a different aesthetic style, creating that common atmosphere becomes even more of a challenge.
When faced with this challenge, some home-owners may prefer to buy-in all new furniture instead of using their existing pieces. Often it’s easier and safer to purchase furniture sets and home decor from the comfort of your own home.
For those in favour of this method of achieving the minimalist aesthetic, you can still achieve the minimalist philosophy by purchasing furniture made from recycled materials and by donating all your old furniture to secondhand furniture stores, or to charity.
The minimalist aesthetic is a hard one to achieve primarily because it often involves letting go of sentimental items and paring down to essentials. But there is also a type of freedom afforded by letting go of all unnecessary possessions and keeping your spaces clean and simple—and this is the real appeal of the minimalist aesthetic.
