Simple is not so simple

It looks like you can write a minimalist piece without much bleeding. And you can. But not a good one. David Foster Wallace

The great deception of minimalism, or reductiveness––which may be more to the point here, is that simplicity is simple or does not come as the result of great labor to create that apparently effortless efficiency and flow. Even nature doesn’t come to simplicity easily. Evolution is proof that tinkering can be an ongoing and long, long process.

Above, our recently completed interior for littlefork in Hollywood. (See more pics here.) One aspect to keeping things minimal is of course that it allows for more open space. The long parallel lines offer quietude and a kind of zen movement and dynamism. It offers energy to the user rather than absorbing it.

This “simple” design approach evolved long ago in the gardens of Asia, Japan especially. When you think about it, all design began somewhere as minimalism before it moved onto something else. Simple is the essence of all things.

It’s the Vulcan of design: It’s logical.

Below, more littlefork:

Nature tends to form itself into long lines and layers: Below, these natural abstract elements converge on the Barents Sea, Svalbard in Norway. (Photo by Stuart Thomson)

The deep space of Wirtz gardens: