The internet is full of brilliant ideas for keeping your home organized. With today’s emphasis on aesthetically pleasing and clutter-free interiors, social media has given rise to some pretty interesting home organization fads, like the popular Fridgescaping trend which encourages people to treat the inside of their refrigerator like a display cabinet. Another creative organization technique is a practice called “Knolling,” which turns everyday objects into artistically-arranged masterpieces. With its focus on aligning objects horizontally and at right angles on a flat surface, Knolling transforms even the most mundane items into intriguing works of art. Knolling has gained widespread popularity in the era of aesthetic minimalism. Now that the curation of clutter-free spaces has taken an artistic turn, it is no surprise that a common photography technique has now been applied to home organization.

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The term “Knolling” has its origins in Santa Monica, California during the 1980s. The person who coined the term is a man named Andrew Kromelow, who himself was not an artist but actually a janitor in Frank Gehry’s furniture studio at the time. Inspired by the angular modernist furniture of Florence Knoll, Kromelow began organizing his tools by hanging them at 90-degree angles on a flat surface. Artist Tom Sachs, who also worked at Gehry’s studio at the time, took note and developed it into a practice known today as Knolling or “flat lay” technique, often used in photography. The artist’s official definition for Knolling is “to arrange like objects in parallel or 90-degree angles as a method of organization” (via YouTube). Let’s dive into the art of Knolling and how you can use it to declutter and organize your drawers like a creative visionary.

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Even if you’ve never heard the term before, Knolling may be more familiar to you than you think. It’s often used in advertising to showcase items like cosmetics, skincare, stationery, cooking supplies, and more. With that being said, you can use this technique to organize these very items in your bathroom, kitchen, and home office. Instead of throwing all of these items loosely in a drawer, Knolling encourages the intentional placement of each object into a cohesive arrangement. Not only is this display beautiful to look at, but it makes each item readily accessible and could even inspire a newfound appreciation for the gadgets and tools that you use every day.

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The steps are very simple. According to a YouTube how-to video posted by Tom Sachs, the first step is to scan your environment for items that are not used and put them away or get rid of them. Once you have decluttered down to your essentials, group similar objects into their own categories. For example, organize the contents of your bathroom drawer into separate groups for nail supplies, cosmetics, and skincare. Finally, square all of the objects in the drawer or the surface you’d like them to rest on by aligning them in parallel or 90-degree formations. Just like that, you’ve transformed the process of organization into an art form. Once you’ve gotten some practice, you can even “Knoll” your dinner table and the food on your plate. With a creative eye, the possibilities are practically endless. 

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