I HAVE THIS THEORY that full-on mid century modern style never really takes hold and endures — because it’s just too spare for most people. It’s minimalist. And we humanoids are not. We like our ornamentation. We pouf our hair and bedazzle our ring fingers. We put bones through our noses, we draw on cave walls, we put feathers and arrowheads into cigar boxes, and we spend hours hunting down rare kitschy creatures for our collections of postwar Made in Japan salt and paper shakers but “animals under $5 a pair only”. It’s a magical, mystical, mesmerizing, magnetic pull — to accumulate. Above: The Wilson House is stunning, but still too… tidy… for me.
I really don’t like to encourage ‘being a meanie’ [a key commenting rule here on the blog is: No one is to be made to feel bad for their choices], but for purposes of today’s Open Thread, I point to this website, Unhappy Hipsters, which lampoons the poses of not-too-happy-looking people in their bare, artful, modern houses. Should we get these folks some tchotchkes, stat?
I spoke to none other than mid century modern design legend Vladimir Kagan recently, and we chatted about this very issue — the struggle to achieve the most noble philosophical aspirations of minimalism.
Mr Kagan:
My designs were influenced by the Bauhaus philosophy, “less is more” – I was raised on this. If you have a bigger piece of furniture, you need less seating elsewhere. The serpentine sofa seats eight people.
Pam: Do you live “less is more” in your own home? (I knew the answer because I had seen the photos of Kagan and Wilson’s New York City apartment on The Selby.)
Mr. Kagan laughs:
Less is more. Except in my own home. Do as I say, not as I do.
Pam: So why did you end up with more is more?
Mr. Kagan:
I wish I could be less is more. I have a yearning to move and start over. You end up with more is more because you like things. Erica and I traveled a lot, and we collected…. We have always acquired never eliminated. To create a clean space is a wonderful thing. I admire it and help create it for my clients. Unfortunately, emotionally I can not down-scale!
that it’s so hard to be minimalists?
Is there something very deep instinctual need to have our stuff?
(Let’s set aside the extremes, please, for this discussion.)
Should we give ourselves a break for being
creatures of domestic comfort?
Or, is there, and *should* we, strive for some sort of more “evolved” “balance”?
Please be *compassionate* in this discussion, okay?
Teri Mills says
I’ve always been a minimalist. When I was a teenager, my mom called my bedroom “the monk’s room.” I don’t have an overabundance of possessions. And I like everything tucked away neatly out of sight. I’ve never liked knick knacks or decor hung on walls. Wide open spaces and bare surfaces make me happy. You can never quite be sure whether someone actually lives in my house. It very possibly could be a home being sold (sparsely) furnished.
Patty says
Our brains are wired differently, and that can determine weather we are hoarders or minimalist or something in between.
lynda says
I have thought about this subject a lot and have known hoarder and minimalist people. I tend to agree you are born with the tendencies. The older you get, the more you understand this.
sudha says
Minimalism and different meanings for different people…members of the same family tend of have diff views in our case..world travel, migration to other lands and wanting to keep the culture with u when u are away from homeland all leads to people like us merging styles..even if it was having a very retro or mcm furniture, we tend to mix a brass figurine or a traditional brass oil lamp from India..so personalizing a space is very very important cos home is where our heart is afterall!
Chad D says
It’s interesting to read about the history of modernism. The Bauhaus school was rooted in communism, and they wanted to wipe away class distinctions by designing things that everyone could afford and everyone would want. It was all so theoretical; I’ve long admired sparse modern spaces until it occurred to me that without ornament or clutter, the most striking “decorations” in my (theoretical) modern home would be the splatters from a carrot soup explosion and a gouge or two in the wall by the front door. In the end, I don’t want to sweep away things that gave me happy childhood memories either, so my place will be a perfect hodge podge, with at least one piece of furniture from each of the last 14 decades or so. My family never cared for modernism, so those are the gaps I’ll have to fill in myself.
pam kueber says
Yes, I would really like to read more about this!
Chad D says
Well I learned it in school, but since we’re not in school anymore we can use Wikipedia, right? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhaus
Rick says
It may be hard to be a good minimalist (such as Mr. Kagan) and using some of the WoW homes Retroren has shown with MCM furnishings because once, a home, room may be considered ‘done’ can you shut off the urge to still go looking for ‘good design’ (and want to own it)? Lack of space or $ or finding the right thing in person is a big help in nurturing minimalism.
The areas that (for me) are hardest to push in the minimalist directions are ‘stored stuff’. My closets are not crammed to the gills, but there’s stuff that seems to only exist to be ‘kept and stored’ primarily because of the ‘F’ word attatched; ‘family’. Passing off to other ‘F’ members isn’t an option as they’re in the same ‘stuff’ situation.
Diane in CO says
Years ago I bought this book “Collecting: An Unruly Passion” and when I went to look for it, it’s no longer in the home library…. must have given it away. 🙂 As I recall it details the insecurities and psychological reasons behind the collecting urge. Guess I didn’t want to know, hehe.
Paperback on Amazon – notice it has only 1 “Like!”
http://www.amazon.com/Collecting-Unruly-Passion-Psychological-Perspectives/dp/0156002531
Paula says
My mom subscribed to Better Homes and Gardens when I was a kid and the bare counters and clean/artfully arranged coffee tables always drove me crazy. We always had stuff, not to the level of hoarders, but not minimalist either. It took me 35 years to realize that the rooms in these magazines are staged for photos. An Art or Set Decorator goes around with a box and removes your clutter and re-envisions your space for the sake of a photo. Somewhere off camera is a box with the day to day stuff everyone has, then they put it all back. That is the picture they don’t show you and should
Patty says
Just like homes for sale are staged to de-personalize and make them look bigger.
Christa says
Yes! Exactly. The photos you see are for photos, not necessarily how the owners live. Homes for sale are staged to be as neutral as possible so that the largest number of potential buyers could imagine living there.
Architectural photography involves a lot of moving things out of the “frame” so the picture looks balanced and the room itself is shown to advantage. Same thing for magazines — they are showing a particular story, not the full story of how people would live.
Sherree says
As much as I love that photo, quite frankly it looks like a waiting room in an office. I want my home to have clean lines and yet be welcoming. I struggle (like most) with keeping it uncluttered, because I love to have “stuff”. I am hoping to meet somewhere in the middle.
Pam from Nashville says
What a thought provoking piece this is! For me, it’s simple, minimalism is just to cold.
Elaine says
The uncluttered look of space age modern is so easy on the eye, so peaceful for the troubled mind, and yet, it begs to be further personalized. There is space to add our own special touches, things we treasure that are not space age, and wonders we find that are perfectly in tune with the look. One good treasure deserves another, and it does seem as though, when you find that perfect one, it has a companion waiting to seek it out and join it.
I’m fighting that trend right now in my 1963 time capsule. So far, I am winning, but not sure how long I can hold out. 🙂