Minimalism: How the reduced style revolutionized our aesthetics and our lifestyle

They have certainly also come across the clean and minimalist apartments in furniture advertising, interior design magazines or on Instagram influencers, which are equipped with simple but elegant furniture.

But is that really all that you think about in minimalism ? Postmodern minimalism is actually not just an architecture and design trend that has conquered social media. It is an art form , an aesthetic imperative in modern art , as well as a lifestyle , a social orientation and an expression of beliefs about society and the world .

One can also speak philosophical approach Sometimes it is limited to partial aspects of everyday life, for others it is a holistic and congruent life philosophy. Minimalism has now become a global super trend, but the question arises as to how realistic and implementable it is actually in practice for each individual.

Can everyone practice minimalism or is there more behind it? Is minimalism as selfless and sustainable as it seems? In this article, we will examine whether less, as is proclaimed according to the minimalist philosophy, is more or whether this is only a facade. We will uncover the truth about minimalism and find out whether this lifestyle really fits everyone.

If you are interested in minimalism, then you are in the right place!

Minimalism as a revolutionary movement

Imagine a scenery: snow -white furniture in front of a flawless, pure and unpainted wall. A carefully polished wooden floor on which only the most necessary furniture in the Scandinavian style is placed. A harmonious, inviting overall picture. No other living style has conquered social media as explosively as minimalism.

However, there is much more behind the elegant and seductive design concept. A whole social attitude and expression manifest themselves behind the impressively staged interiors.

Introduction to minimalism

Minimalism is a philosophy of life that aims to reduce the essentials and concentrate on what is really important. It's about freeing yourself from ballast and leading a easier life.

Minimalism as a philosophy of life emerged as a kind of countermovement to the consumer frenzy and materialism of today's society. He is based on the realization that a life with only the absolutely necessary material goods can make a person freed, happier and more satisfied overall. The thought is obvious, because if you have little, you have to worry less.

Minimalism is therefore not just a style, but a way of living. He can help them separate from things that they do not need and to concentrate on what really matters.

If you are interested in minimalism, you should focus on simplifying your life and freeing yourself from unnecessary things. Minimalism can help them concentrate on the essentials and to lead a more fulfilling life.

Statistics are circulating in the media, which are often noticed without a view. One of these statistics refers to the possession of an average citizen. " 10,000 things" is often mentioned on the Internet, which is said to have an average European. However, it is not necessary to own so many objects. Nevertheless, each of us has accumulated a similar amount on average. According to alleged information from the Statistical Federal Office, each average German has around 10,000 things  ( Tagesschau ) .

We were amazed at the research of the standard for this statistics:

Their journalists received an email from a representative of the Federal Statistical Office. The supposed "10,000 things" turned out to be a "false report" , which is still stubborn.

The authority has not existed any data about it and never reported about it. Such statistics should be enjoyed with caution anyway, since the number of household items is constantly changing due to daily purchases or disposal and reliable survey is practically impossible. It remains unclear where this information comes from and whether there is a source for it at all. As with many numbers that circulate on the Internet, the origin of this claim is hidden in the dark. ”

Apart from that: For us Germans, it is fundamentally as an immense challenge to own less. 100 years ago, an average German household still had 180 things. An estimated almost three million people live in a household with three cars and more in this country. But minimalism shows us that consumption alone does not make you happy. By consciously deciding against the excessive purchase of material things and separating from unimportant, we can lead a freer and focused life.

The declared goal of minimalists is to concentrate on the really important things in life and to enjoy the small, everyday things. Perhaps you also have objects that you only cancel because you think you could still use them at some point.

If the family reunion takes place, for example, you could use your great aunt's old porcelain plates. In such cases, we decide to keep things so that later no regrets feel if we had given away or sold them.

Minimalism teaches us trust and let go . We learn to hide what might be or to happen, and instead to live in the here and now .

The minimalism - no invention of modern times

Minimalism has a long history and is by no means a modern phenomenon. Certain groups of people have always tried to develop their true potential by freed from secular ballast.

Already in ancient times Greek Stoics preached the beauty of simplicity and nuns as well as monks from the Christian, Buddhist and Shinto faith lived a life without material goods.

As a design element, minimalism has its roots in the counter -movement to Expressionism . Instead of elaborate paintings, artists wanted to create simple pictures with few colors and shapes.

A short history of minimalism

The formal (in the Oxford dictionary) Definition of minimalism reveals an aesthetic principle , but over time, the word has developed so that it has many different meanings for many different people. This is mainly due to the elasticity of the concept "less is more" and the ability to apply it to lifestyle , art , fashion , architecture , literature , music and residential culture .

Although these are the typical applications today, it is helpful to get an overview of how minimalism has developed over time what it is today.

Here are a few highlights from the past 200 years ( minimalism ) :

1800–1850: Introduction of simple life in America

A transcendentalist philosophy spreads in America and is made popular Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau

They took the idealistic view that insight and enlightenment can be obtained through loneliness and simplicity, as shown in the book.

Even if this new approach of simplicity is currently not expressly referred to as minimalism, it is something that we will further develop in the coming years.

1920–1930: The era of the upscale design

The modern style, with which the word minimalism is most associated with, was strongly influenced by the ideal of the Bauhaus school reconcile beauty and usefulness in product design .

In the Bauhaus -ära, the school teachers and students offered an alternative to boring industrial products and presented themselves to the role of art in society.

creativity the Bauhaus School inspired the concept of upscale design for everyday life.

1960-1970: minimalist expansion

The term minimalism emerged from the New York Minimal-Art movement of the 1960s , which gave us the Platon-geometric works by Robert Morris , Sol Lewitt , Frank Stella and others. Ironically, many minimal artists created sculptures that were inspired by the clear forms of modernist design.

One of the greatest masters of the minimal art, Donald Judd , set up his own loft in Manhattan with straight -line, raw plywood furniture, which he designed and, in addition to classics of modernist pioneers such as Alvar Aalto , Gerrit Rietveld and Thonet .

Since then, the term “minimalism” been used to refer to all objects or interiors that have a significant reduction in the form. The choice of well -tried designs that prefer simple functionality compared to plush forms is still an important part of minimalist interior.

Minimalism was used as a colloquial term in literature, painting, architecture and other aesthetic, design and creative areas. The minimalists began to detach themselves from the abstract expressionism of earlier generations, removed storytelling or metaphors from their art and focused on industrial materials, white space and simple, simple works.

In addition, Dieter Rams introduced its principles of good designs in the 1970s and has since been praised as one of the most influential personalities of the reserved, user-friendly product design trends, which is generally referred to as a minimalist design.

1980–2000: Simple Living adaptation

In the next phase of the history of minimalism, there was a continuous increase in simple art and simple living movements. The slow food movement was launched after protested in Rome against the opening of a McDonald's. Subsequently, it inspired similar subcultures in other categories such as sustainable fashion and travel.

Proponents of the "slowness" oppose the modern idea that the quick acquisition and the accumulation of more things or experiences is somehow better. They believe that quality has priority over quantity and that the changeover of their lives will help them to make the best of it to a more conscious pace.

2000 - Today: Minimalism becomes a mainstream

Blogging became the mainstream, and advocates of simple life as well as various slow movements began to use the medium to share their ideas. Suddenly, minimalism became the de facto term that was used in all of these communities.

The philosophy of simplicity is ancient, but in this generation the blogging aroused an increased interest in "less is more" than lifestyle philosophy.

In the past decade, a flood of minimalist gurus has transformed a philosophy into a fad.

People began to write scripts to apply minimalism to different areas of life. Hey, we obviously also jumped on the train.

25 important personalities of the minimalist movement

1. Donald Judd

Donald Judd was an American artist, painter and sculptor who is attributed to the popularization of many principles of minimalist design.

Although he never liked the term minimalism to describe his art, Judd made a participant in the art movement through his use of geometric forms and his simple design.

2. Carl Andre

Carl Andre , another part of the group, which founded the New York movement of the 1960s, contributed to bringing lattice structures and a linear approach to sculptures

With simple visual elements in his approach to the sculpture, he contributed to promoting the new, more modern art genre that we today know as a minimal way.

3. Dan Flavin

Dan Flavin , also a New York sculptor who switched from abstract expressionism to a new art style that helped this modern movement.

His minimalist art is unique due to the use of fluorescent lamps in buildings and is still considered one of the leaders in the history of minimalism.

Representative 4-25:

Below you will find 22 other important minimalism artists listed. These are briefly presented Contemporary Art Issue

4. Sol Lewitt
5. Robert Morris
6. Stephen Antonakos
7. Jo Baer
8. Larry Bell
9. Ronald Bladen
10. Mary Corse
11. Walter de Maria
12. Robert Grosvenor
13. Carmen Herrera
14. Eva Hesse

15.
Gary Kuehn 17th Agnes Martin
18. John McCracken
20.
Robert Ryman
21. Fred Sandback
22. Richard Serra
23. Tony Smith
24. Robert Smithson
25th Anne Truitt

The origins and essence of minimalism in design and architecture

Less is more",

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe once postulated as a dogma for minimalist design and architecture.

Minimalism is a style that has the essentials in its being. It is tried to get the maximum out of the minimum.

Simplicity is the last achievement. After playing a large amount of grades and even more grades, it is the simplicity that emerges as the crowning wages of art ” - Frédéric Chopin

In minimalist design, all elements strive to convey the message of simplicity. Geometric basic forms, elements without decoration, few materials as well as the meaning of order and essential quality.

Nowadays, minimalism has found its way into all media. From visual arts to music and literature . Nevertheless, this design philosophy has found a medium in particular and took it in itself: visual communication and design.

While minimalism played a role art history design .

Minimalist design first appeared in eastern cultures, for example in Zen Buddhism . The Zen memorial school was strongly influenced by Taoism and represented simplicity , the "clean" and the harmonious one.

This philosophy then influenced the lifestyle and the idea of ​​home and aesthetics. Simplicity not only has an aesthetic value, but also a deeper perception that researches the nature of truth and grabs the inner qualities and the nature of rooms, materials and objects.

Japanese aesthetic principles such as "MA" , which refers to an open space in which the emptiness reduces everything to the essentials.

Or principles such as " Wabi-Sabi " , which appreciate the quality of simple and simple objects, that lack unnecessary characteristics and concentrate on the acceptance of impermanence and imperfection .

Minimalism as a natural principle

Although minimalist design and minimalist lifestyle may come from a certain region of the world, the fascination for essentialism seems to be deeply connected to the human mind. Man has always tried to find and understand the essentials The basic structure on which everything builds up.

This innate need to understand what we and everything else consist of is the core of theology, philosophy and science. In the course of history, men like Plato, Leonardo da Vinci , Albert Einstein and many other revere thinkers admire the properties of simple and essential.

Minimalism as a formative design style of modernity

Minimalism has always been the core of modern design.

Bauhaus School and its founder Walter Gropius emerged in Germany , whose philosophy was that the functionality and aesthetic aspects of design were dependent.

It was the birth of modern industrial design :

Form follows function "

This idea transformed the function into the decoration. Architects and designers like Mies van der Rohe or Marcel Breuer are among the best examples of the Bauhaus design .

The careful consideration of how things are used and how the design was to play a key role in society began to grow with the young creatives, and with it the idea of ​​simplicity came.

At a time like today when everyone is bombarded everywhere with visual information, the answer was the answer. The silence was perceived more than the volume.

Economic and ecological concerns also played a role. In graphic communication, the messages were initially conveyed simply and effectively.

Minimalist product design

In the product design , the production of products that were easy to manufacture and were to be sent to the whole world supported by companies, and a certain degree of care in the product impact ensured that designers became more unnecessary elements during the design process.

Not to mention the satisfaction of using a simple product in which everything has a clear function. Dieter Rams , a German designer who is considered one of the most influential designers of the 20th century, justified the principles of good design that are still valid today.

His principle was:

Good design is as little design as possible.

These principles shaped one of the most admired product lines in the world, the Apple products . The chief designer of Apple, Jonathan Ive the electronics industry with the concept of simplicity together with Steve Jobs

Minimalism is powerful and seems to be a “ultimate design” ladder, which does not mean that minimalism makes all designs look the same. Despite the same basic principle, minimalist design can take on countless forms and details as in nature that lead to harmonious rooms and objects.

Tiny House - Minimalism in Living

The trend of living in a particularly small space is increasingly developing towards the so -called Tiny House . While life in "mobile houses" was often associated with financial hardship, the "Tiny House" movement nowadays stands for awareness and clever life.

In addition, the increasing rental and real estate prices in the urban areas, the growing desire for flexibility and mobility as well as the need for a retreat in the middle of nature contribute to this. This makes this way of life more and more attractive.

In opposite pole to Fast fashion: conscious waiver instead of consumism

Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg demonstrate how minimalism can exist in the oversupply of fashion by always appearing in uniform looks. This reduction to essential clothing is adopted by postmodern minimalists as a stylistic orientation.

Ex-President Obama also supports this idea by explaining that he wanted to minimize decisions about clothing and food in order to focus on significant things. This simplification is a challenge for the fast fashion industry and addresses critics of consumption growth.

The young Swedish label Asket reacts to the sale of timeless basics without seasonal trends. In doing so, they emphasize the resistance to the dictation of fast -moving fashion, which is characterized by brands such as Zara and discounter like Primark.

Why choose a minimalist lifestyle?

Why minimalism? This question certainly arises many people who deal with the topic. The reason for this is obvious: we live in a society that is constantly flooding with stimuli and consumer goods.

We have the feeling that we have to have more and more to be happy. But the opposite is the case. A minimalist lifestyle can help us concentrate on what is really important and makes us happy.

Minimalism also has a positive impact on our environment and our society. By avoiding consumer goods and the focus on sustainability, we can reduce our ecological footprint and make a contribution to the protection of our environment.

In short: minimalism is not just a trend, but a philosophy of life that can help us live a fulfilling and sustainable life.

Live minimalistic - less is more

Minimalists try out new life concepts. Cédric Waldburger has limited himself to only 64 items and no longer has an apartment. Everything he has is black and he never stays in one place for more than three days. However, the digital nomade is not a dropout, but strives for success.

The nice thing is that I am extremely free in my life ”,

he says. But will that change if he falls in love?

Selim Tolga was obsessed with sorting and cleaning up his toys by colors. Today he made a business out of it. As a cleaning up coach , he helps people to migrate their apartments.

Others are looking for a psychiatrist, I afford the order coach ”,

says one of his customers and is happy about the feeling of happiness after cleaning up .

Tanja Schindler decided to let go. She only lives on 35 square meters and can move with her eco-mini house at any time. She believes that minimalist life is a good alternative to the often ill -causing abundance:

We are the first generation to have everything and we noticed that it doesn't make us happy ”.

Status symbols have lost their power, and more and more people long for less and are more.

The subsequent documentary of the SRF is guaranteed to motivate you to clean up or at least to let go of superfluous. An inspiration for a life with less property and more fulfillment (a film by Andrea Pfalzgraf):

Proven methods for introducing a more conscious lifestyle

The 100-things challenge

A few years ago, the American blogger Dave Bruno the country with the thesis that life actually only required 100 personal things.

However, the objects that he shares with his family, such as furniture and cutlery, do not count. Thus the question of definition arises. But 100 personal non-everyday objects appear realistic.

Under the motto "Live Simply", the American blogger and online marketing manager Dave Bruno launched the "100 Thing Challenge" His steep thesis: life actually only requires 100 personal things.

Who doesn't know it? You stand in front of a full wardrobe or in a room full of things and wonder if you really need all of this. Dave Bruno has reduced his possession to the most necessary 100 personal objects in order to set an example against the compulsive hypercony of the US lifestyle.

Although 100 objects may seem a lot at first, it is not so easy to concentrate on the essentials in our consumer -oriented society.

“100 Thing Challenge”, Dave Bruno definitely hit a nerve with many people and there are now many “live Simply” imitators in America and Europe, who exchange ideas on his blog page and provide each other with tips and advice for a simpler lifestyle. A great inspiration for more conscious consumption and an excellent suggestion to clean up the wardrobe, basement or the garage.

"Eat the Frog First" - the worst comes first

This approach helps to separate from property, which is often difficult. Select at least one of your loved items to give away or sell it. This experience can be painful, but brings the realization that we need much less for a happy life than expected.

In the future it will be easier for them to consciously separate from unnecessary things and thus integrate more minimalism into their lives.

This approach is described in detail in the article by Utopia.de:

• Eat the Frog: How a frog helps with time management

The basket method

The basket method represents an effective strategy to eliminate unnecessary objects from their living space. Here you use a laundry basket or a similar container and searched your owners. Only those things that do not appeal to them or are considered unnecessary are in the basket. As soon as the basket is filled, you have reached your daily goal.

If you consistently use this method for a week, you will make space and get closer to your pursuit of minimalism. It is advisable to start in a room and then gradually work through the entire apartment.

Michael Klumb - German minimalist and podcaster

The German minimalist Michael Klumb advises to consider which objects you would save out of the house in the event of a fire. A sensible note, which should not mean that hundreds of books should be prevented from the shelf just because you would not risk life for them.

Konmari and "Magic Cleaning"

Minimalist design elements can also be found in ancient, traditional Japanese houses and temples. In 2018, the trend of minimalism experienced a new upswing from the Japanese bestselling author Konmari , also known as Marie Kondo .

Her book "Magic Cleaning" has been sold 1.3 million times in Japan and describes a update method based on ancient shinto -to -philosophies.

Method for advanced users

If the approaches mentioned so far have not appeared radically enough, you should try the cardboard method . This is a radical strategy that uses moving boxes to reduce possession.

They collect all their possessions in boxes - optimally well organized - and live exclusively from them for a few days. Everything you do not need during this period can be given away or disposed of. This process supports you in recognizing which objects are actually important and which are sensibly dispensable.

In this way you quickly identify the unnecessary things in your life.

Fee even more suggestions and quickly implementable tips? Then visit these two posts from Utopia.de:

• Live minimalistically: These 26 practical tips make your life easier
• To minimalism in 7 days: This is how you feel easier

Joachim Rodriguez y Romero

Owner and managing director of Kunstplaza . Publicist, editor and passionate blogger in the field of art, design and creativity since 2011. Successful conclusion in web design as part of a university degree (2008). Further development of creativity techniques through courses in free drawing, expression painting and theatre/acting. Profound knowledge of the art market through many years of journalistic research and numerous collaborations with actors/institutions from art and culture.

www. kunstplaza .de/