apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love minimalism, it makes things easy to clean... not that the owners of these places do their own cleaning or anything; but still, it looks nice.

Beautiful, yes,
restful, yes...
but I don't think it ever feels like 'home.'
That having been said, minimalist space is wonderful to stay in whilst vacationing IMHO.

Last summer I attended one lecture from a series by the Mies Van Der Rohe Society at the Illinois Institute of Technology. This particular lecture was about minimalism in cuisine. The presenter used WD-50 in NYC and Alinea in Chicago as two examples of minimalist restaurants. That's when I really started to realize minimal equals expensive.

But why? It's simple, it's often small, and it often doesn't use expensive materials. The line in the article which read minimalism is the "simplest expression of complex thought" sums it up I guess. In a minimal restaurant how many minds and hands and how much technology does it take to create a miniscule taste that encapsulates the very essence of a particular ingredient? In the home, how much of the same does it take to create a wall of kitchen or bathroom cabinets that are completely seamless and appear to float on the wall?
So damn! I love it, it makes so much sense to me for my living environment and lifestyle but it's so *%$&! expensive!

I can also relate to the idea that minimalism might signify a new change in someone's life. For me I have always lived in apartments that seemed impossible to clean. Or there was always something in the apartments that didn't need to be there. Having my own place now I feel like keeping it minimal is like making a fresh start on my own terms. It is also a loft but not a large one so a minimalist decor makes practical sense when it comes to preserving space and making it seem larger. I'm not talking about the "noonies" pad on SNL by any means but a space that adopts the minimalist idea and allows other forms of design (more personal) to cohabitate with it.

I admire it but I couldn't live with it for very long.

I have too much of a magpie nature. Birds' nests need sticks and pieces of ...whatever.

I'd love to see a gender-based breakdown of where people fit on the maximalist/minimalist scale. From anecdotal evidence (mostly people I know and a lot of the posts on AT) it seems women tend towards maximalist (cozy?) and men tend more towards minimalism. (I might say guys tend towards barely-controlled chaos, but I don't think that qualifies as a design esthetic...)

I also get a kick out of the idea that minimalism is related to Autism or Asperger's. As an Aspie, I empathize with the guy who couldn't take the walls not being even and even with the idea of having all the cans in my cupboard with their labels facing forward. All of my CDs sit right-side up in their cases...

Both might explain why you don't see much in the way of minimalism in practice.

well, I recognize that photo-- it that John Pawson's house?

Whatever you have to say about minimalism-- that guy (a british architect) co-wrote one of the best cookbooks ever. it is not particularly minimalist, but it is simple and direct and has wonderful roast chicken recipes. I think it's called "Living and Eating" or something. I'm at work, so I can't check the title. Anyway, the cookbook has a section at the end about how to outfit your kitchen so you don't have a crazy array of gadgets and crap, but what you have is what you need. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for cookbook lead! It looks beautiful, I'm going to add it to my collection.

I'm really interested in this now because Pawson is a minimalist architect and has a great interest in food but his food is not minimalist in the same way. From what I have seen his food may be minimal in ingredients but it is still rustic in a way--soulful maybe. As a cook I have thought to myself that if I am minimalist with my home then why aren't I minimalist with my food? O.K. that's enough, sounds like thoughts more appropriate for AT Kitchen.

I love minimalism and continue to strive toward it. I think the textures of materials brings in warmth and comfort.

My problem is that in addition to a "day job", I need two spaces at home for art making - 1)making jewelry, 2)painting.

Tough to be minimalist when you have something that has zillions of parts to it and you need to put it together. All the threads on AT I've seen so far address home "office", not real work spaces for "us".

I'll have to look up Pawson's book. And, this space is quite beautiful.