Ask not for whom I knoll ... I knoll for thee.
How are you doing? Are you feeling okay or a little stressed out?
I've been extra stressed lately. There's the continual stream of appalling news coming from the government, plus an assortment of personal and business concerns, including the purchase of a major household appliance and a scramble to come up with a new system for wholesale clients with Etsy Wholesale closing this summer.
Of course, when you're feeling stressed the last thing you often want to do is to take time out to deal with it. I know I'm usually thinking I don't have time to deal with this right now!
As a result, I'm always on the lookout for quick things that I can do to take a mental break and try to recharge. This year I discovered a new-to-me source of stress relief: knolling.
What Is Knolling?
Artist Tom Sachs observed that at the end of the work day, the janitor would make sure that all the tools and materials were carefully arranged in clean lines that mimicked the Knoll furniture they produced. He called this "knolling."
The basic idea of knolling is to arrange various materials in an organized, systematic way. People take photo of these arrangements from above. There is something pleasing about both viewing such photos and creating them yourself. Looking at the photos taken by others gives you the feeling that the messy edges of life can somehow be corralled. Kat Bauman in "Knoll Thy Enemy: Combatting Chaos With Carefully Arrayed Items" states, "Through neatness, it suggests an improvement to functionality, accessibility and efficiency. In a way it's like making your workplace into a 3D exploded diagram."
One reason that I think this technique appeals to all levels of photographers is that the bar to entry is low. It's not too hard to look around your house and find items that you have in multiples (toothpicks, crackers, flip flops). By arranging items in neat rows, you take out any worry about creating an "artistic" tableau. Practically any photo you take with this technique is going to look compelling.
Another reason that this kind of activity is appealing that it strokes the same kind of satisfaction that you get from cleaning or organizing, but without the guilt that usually comes with having to deal with large quantities of physical items. Organization typically deals with paring down our possessions, but with knolling, you can enjoy the beauty that is only possible with owning multiples or collections.
Finally, if you're someone who creates, knolling with your own materials and tools is especially delightful. The photos represent possibility and anticipation of projects to come. It's almost as if all those neat rows of items are quietly saying, "We're ready whenever you're ready!"
Examples in Fashion and Cooking
Several industries use this technique quite often. In fashion, knolling provides a fuller experience for the viewer beyond the traditional modeled shot. By showing clothing flat with a mix of accessories, you give the viewer the nudge to imagine herself in the items. Fashion photos are often vaguely suggestive of specific settings or situations such as date night or business meetings, which can give them a storybook feel. I've ordered previously from Stitch Fix and one of the things I always enjoy are the little style cards that come with your order that use this type of photography.
With cooking, you typically see either a mise en place photo showing various raw ingredients and kitchen tools or a finished item that comes in multiples (think cookies). I especially like the pickle photo in this post "Food Knolling - 6 of the Best Pictures."
Recommended Viewing
Creative types who are highly skilled at knolling can take it a step beyond simple order and and create vignettes that tell a story or highlight subtle differences in items you previously thought identical. You'll find lots of great examples just by searching for knolling on Instagram or Pinterest. Here are some of my favorite examples of knolling:
- Things Organized Neatly is a blog-turned-book by Austin Radcliffe.
- I love seeing photos of items that you normally would not think of arranging this way, such as Fruity Pebbles cereal sorted by color.
- Photos arranged with some kind of color palette are always fascinating such as this one with erasers by artist Lisa Congdon. She did a cool year-long project where she photographed a collection (or part of a collection) every day.
- Things Come Apart by Todd McLellan shows disassembled electronics. (Who knew that a rotary phone had so many tiny parts?)
- I first heard about knolling from Adam Savage, host of the TV show Mythbusters. He's made a photo gallery of "awesome examples of knolling" which has lots of examples showing tools and LEGOs.
- "Creative Trends Close-Up: Flat Lay in Fashion, Food, and Social
Media" has some cool examples.
- An article "This is your brain on tidiness" mentions the Instagram feed of photographer Emily Blincoe's as "a virtual haven for neat freaks everywhere."
Photos on this page: Top right: Antiqued brass trees and branches from Vintaj Brass Co. Middle: Silver-plated flowers from B'Sue Boutiques. Bottom: Copper rectangles, key rings, and jump rings used to create my hand stamped copper keychains. All items from my personal collection. Photos by me.