The Life-Changing Magic of “Knolling”
Before you decide to purge your objects, consider artfully arranging them.
When Tidying Up with Marie Kondo debuted on Netflix in January 2019, the Japanese decluttering guru skyrocketed from a best-selling author to a popular culture phenomenon. Her name became a philosophy and a verb: "Kondo-ing," or keeping the items that "spark joy" and tossing the ones that don’t. Fast forward to 2023, however, and the Kondo boom feels like the last hurrah of a particular type of the prescriptive, white-knuckled minimalism that felt inescapable for much of the past decade. Enter "knolling," a totally different organizational method born from the studio practices of artists, designers, and DIYers that involves laying out related objects—paint pens and ink markers, wrenches and chisels, metal chains of all sizes—in a precise but simultaneously stylish way, intended to streamline workflow. The organizing practice feels uniquely suited to meet this aesthetic moment and rife with potential as an interior design philosophy, focusing on highlighting your belongings instead of discarding them.
Introducing One Corner — an inside look at one person’s cherished space.
One Corner: A Playful Place for Listening to Records
A sun-drenched corner in photographer Chris Mottalini's living room has become a calming space for him, his wife Nepal Asatthawasi, an urban planner, and their six-year-old son. It's where they unwind and listen to records at the end of the day—if your version of unwinding includes listening to rock and heavy metal. "My son's favorite bands are currently U2, The Cure, and Metallica," says Mottalini, an avid record collector himself. "Also, The Smiths and Black Sabbath. I'm obviously a proud dad."
The family lives in a gorgeous 1950s stone house in the Hudson Valley that blends rustic details with a mix of modern and antique decor. In the photo above, the previous homeowners left the table in the basement, and the two rugs are Moroccan and Persian, picked by Asatthawasi, a vintage rug fanatic. The massive pouf is from Hem, and the lamp is Isamu Noguchi's Akari 3A; the painting is by Michael Berryhill, and the small photograph is Malick Sidibé.
"When it comes to my photographic work, I often find I'm drawn more towards capturing a home in a series of vignettes and tighter detail shots of rooms, as opposed to super-wide views," explains Mottalini. "So, I think I riffed off that approach when it comes to the design of our house. It's just how I see a house."
Before the corner was a nook for music and books, it was a spot for their son to make art during the throes of the pandemic. "Our house has always existed as a work in progress." Looking ahead, Mottalini feels the corner near finished, but he has his sights set on one project: building new Ojas plywood speakers from a kit designed by Devon Turnbull. Well, that and Mottalini says he is also still working on teaching his son to use the turntable without scratching the records.
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