Minimalism

The financial crisis brought commercialism and spending to the forefront of everyone's mind. Style imitates life, so it's no surprise that a minimalized style came back into chic. It wasn't long until minimalism was all over modern home design. Interior designers working in apartments started recommending less and less.

Minimalism in design seeks to strip us down so that we are the focus, not the room around us. The few bold pieces in a truly minimal environment make bigger statements. Art is devoid of excess lines, clothes lack flair. Confidence stems from this simplicity.

Minimalism often seeks to create a sense of spaciousness by removing unnecessary barriers and highlighting functional pieces. The lack of excess flourish allows the center of attention to be the room itself. I like to say that it takes the attention off the things and onto the person.

Minimalism isn't about being boring, it's about being tactical. We don't want the pieces to battle for attention, we want each to strike out in it's particular way. Traditional concepts of minimal style seem to imply that the style suffers. Not at all, the style itself is highlighted by removing the noise around it. By removing the noise around you.

Minimalism in design also has some interesting social implications. First, it asks that designers produce quality, not quantity. Secondly, it generally uses eco-friendly materials and design habits. Small companies benefit as interesting, handcrafted wears become more and more important.

In the past few years, minimalism has really taken off as a philosophy as well. Bloggers have turned huge followings into leverage-able incomes off their musings on the topic. To that tune, on Monday we'll see some thoughts of the current torch-holder of Minimalism, Josh Millburn. Josh co-runs the blog The Minimalists and frequently published deep, thought provoking essays (something he distinguishes from Posts or Blogging).