#061 ✰ The clutter skill

The clutter movement • SoaO: Nico's surf ears

Mar 08, 2023

Hey there 👋 I’m Mathilde. We are Objet. We explore the intersection of consumerism, myth, satisfaction, desire, taste, joy, meaning and pride. Not specifically in that order. To brag at your next dinner, Objet is the french word for 'object' and should be pronounced 'OB-JEH'.

I hope you’re having a good day! If you’re new here, welcome 👋
Here’s what we are going to cover today:

Our mission 👉 Wait, what are they onto again?
This week 👉 The Clutter Skill
Soul of an Objet 👉 Nico’s Surf Ears
What’s up on the app 👉 Shareable Profiles
Cool reads 👉 Cause you know, it’s always cool to read cool stuff

Our mission

Our mission is to help people thrive at not regretting their purchases anymore, to be at peace with their surroundings. We are here to bring back friction and empowerment at a time they almost disappeared.

The whole relationship with our objects is rotten: from hijacked desires, to suspicious recommendations, from insipid binge-buying to disposable ‘stuff’ and a get-rid-off paralysis.

We want to bring back joy and pride. And liberate you from all the noise.

This week | The Clutter Skill

When we were kids, my sister and I used to love the Lynx board game, where you each had to find 3 random objects throughout a mere 400 visuals, and place them as fast as possible on the board. The first to score 25 won. We could play for hours. She was killing it, I was a bit slower.

Wait… was this game an introductory step to a life of clutter? “Let’s see how fast you can find your keychain, you sucker😈😈😈! Better train while you still can.”

My sister shines in a room full of objects. I used to be like her, but now I feel oppressed. I need to know where things are, and the idea to play Lynx each time I’m on the hunt for my wallet gives me palpitations.

Why is it that some people thrive while some feel miserable in clutter ?

After KonMari’s successful call for Tidying Up, there’s been a whole counter movement praising for clutter and its benefits. A bunch of sociologists and psychologists have been documenting the topic with research and studies, here are a couple of conclusions about clutter:

1. A trigger to creativity and anti-conformism

Each object on the Lynx board potentially triggers dozens of ideas for future activities

they don’t see the mess—they see possibility.

doing work in a clean and tidy space activates social norms encouraging people to do what is expected of them. Working in a messy space, on the other hand, relaxes that need and allows people to break free of social norms and expectations.

(…)

The scientist Albert Einstein*, famous for his genius and creative thinking, was known for having a messy desk.
“If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?” he once asked in response to comments on his workspace.

📰 It’s Not Mess, It’s Creativity

*While his name pops up, hats off to his wife, maybe 👀?

2. A method to the madness

They know the Lynx board like the back of their hands

The famed psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud was once attributed as saying, “Don’t clean up the mess. I know exactly where everything is.”

3. A flexible mindset

Switch the board wings, or replace most visuals? I’ll thrive anyway

individuals who can not only handle messes, but who do their best thinking and leading in the midst of turmoil.

4. A zen attitude

[sigh] whatever...

Messy people don’t fight the mess, they give in. And they’re way more Zen than the rest of us.

***

Maybe it has less to do with personality and more with moments in your life, cycles, mood,…? Something that evolves over time rather than an inherited or developed skill?

My conclusion is that it all comes back to finding your own ratio of tidiness/messiness. If you’re pissed, stressed, exhausted, frustrated, bored, maybe it is time to make some changes ✨

Soul of an Objet | Nicolas Duc-Dodon

Designer & surfer Nico shares the backstory of his Surf Ears.

Tell us, what's the backstory of this object?

I purchased Surf Ears while I was surfing a lot of in cold water (~10 degrees) up in San Francisco. Hearing a lot about ear infection stories and “surfer’s ear condition” [more from the National Library of Medicine if curious] when repeatedly exposed to cold water, I wanted to better protect myself against the cold weather condition that I’m facing every time I’m going surfing. Now, I can’t really go surf without them, they became part of my surfing routine.

What object’s been your best investment?

My headphones Bose Quiet Comfort (1st gen-not bluetooth). Can’t travel anywhere else without it. I think I got them around 7 years ago. Only replaced the ear cups once but other than that they’ve been holding on good!

Is there any other type of things you truly like to dig into?

It’d probably be gaming pc or personal computer. I love geeking and nerding around those two. I recently upgraded my gaming rig with brand new parts and put it together myself (with Youtube help of course :D).

What's the next purchase you're currently contemplating?

A revel kit. It’s an electric skateboard kit that you can attach to any board. I’m thinking about getting it for my cruiser.

Thank you!

👀 Did you know? Once you onboard on the app, you can respond to and engage with guest contributors like Nicolas Duc-Dodon in one click.

What’s up in the app

🌸🛼 Is your profile ready to share? 💄🪞💁🏽 Aiiiight, here’s mine 💋

Also:

Luc is looking for a beautiful, fitted shirt in stretch fabric
Gauthier is looking for a tri suit (yeah a suit for triathlon 🏊🏻‍♀️🚴🏼🏃🏻‍♀️)

Think you can help?
Could use advice in your next hunt?

Try us:

Get the app

Cool reads

📰 Influencer, deinfluencer,… Where’s the off button?! 💆🏼

Yet, as is often the case online, what started as an honest, user-led intervention into our collective consumer behaviour, has been co-opted by influencers to shill even more products. ‘Deinfluencing’ videos have metamorphosed into a viral video format in which influencers are slating products they didn’t like and redirecting followers to other products or their ‘dupes’.

(…) remember that the next viral cream blush will only be as good as the other ones collecting dust in your drawer.

The problem we’re after, made explicit.

But what’s abundant lately is undifferentiated junk. In these conditions, understanding what it is you’re buying, where it came from, and what you can expect of it is a fool’s errand. E-commerce giants have pushed to the point of absurdity a problem that’s central to the consumer system: It’s basically impossible to be an informed consumer, and it always has been.
(…)
Online shopping as it is currently constituted—highly mediated by Amazon, Google, Meta, and now TikTok—causes such problems because it’s good at feeling highly informative. Before you buy anything, you can read reviews, look up terms you don’t understand, find out what everyone else is buying, and watch videos to get a better look at a product. You can consult the opinions of people who should have better judgment or more information than you do—fitness influencers can tell you which leggings to buy, makeup artists can tell you about their favorite concealers, reviewers at sites such as Wirecutter and The Strategist can tell you about everything else. You can comparison-shop across multiple brands and retailers without leaving your home, culminating in the purchase of the best product or service at the best price for your needs. If you can’t figure it out, maybe that’s a you problem.
(…) More common, though, is something like consumer vertigo: The search results are full of ads. You can’t come up with the right string of words to get more useful results. The reviews, both on the retailer’s site and on third-party websites you’ve mostly never heard of, seem fake. You can’t get the site’s chatbot—or is it a real person limited to an approved script?—to answer a basic question. You suspect that the influencers are being secretly compensated even when their posts aren’t tagged as advertisements, and maybe that they’ve never used the things they recommend at all.

🎨📹 Beautifully animated tribute to our every day objects, those so trivial we don’t even see anymore. Kinda Lynx, next level s***:

If you got all the way here and have been seeking a better way to experience shopping & enjoy your possessions, alongside enthusiastic, not-so-serious souls, try Objet: