MINIMALISSIMO EDITED
This monthly edition of the Minimalissimo Newsletter is supported by aprile, the hanging chair
I’ve been involved with minimalism, in one way or another, for more than 25 years at this point. It wasn’t a deliberate decision, I just fell into it. My fascination for Japan led me to Zen Buddhism and from there I got into minimalism. What started as a passing fascination is now part of who I am as a person even though I don’t consider myself a minimalist.
But what’s so captivating about minimalism? Why aren’t there as many websites dedicated to maximalism as there are to minimalism? What’s special about minimalism?
I’m not going to pretend to have a definitive answer but I do have an intuition. I think minimalism speaks to our desire for pockets of calm and tranquillity in our daily lives.
Minimalism, in design and architecture, is the language of silence and tranquillity. I just picked three examples from recent posts on the site:
Am I the only one who can just feel the quietness of these spaces? Minimalism manifests itself through simplicity but also through its intrinsic meditative nature. And the more I explore it, the more I’m convinced minimalism will play an important role in a world that’s growing more and more chaotic by the day.
A few updates since it’s been a while since I sent one of these newsletters. The past couple of months have been incredibly busy for a multitude of reasons but have also been incredibly helpful to figure out which direction to take when it comes to the site. Minimalissimo is a 16-year-old website and sometimes it’s easy to forget that the age alone makes it a special place since the vast majority of websites don’t last anywhere near that long. I spent these first 6 months worried about not messing it up because I know a lot of you love it as much as I do.
But I realised that it’s important to try to make it grow and evolve while keeping its spirit intact. There are a few things you can expect to see in the upcoming months:
I started working on a new directory section which is going to be a place to help you discover studios, brands, and stores whose vision is aligned with the design Minimalissimo is trying to promote.
A new homepage is something I’m currently brainstorming. I want to help you more easily navigate the site and also help you rediscover old content. The archive contains a huge quantity of quality content and it’s a shame that the only way to get there is by endlessly scrolling through it so it’s my goal to find a way to solve that issue.
I want to bring back direct user support and try to make the site more financially sustainable thanks to the generosity of people rather than the investments of corporations. I’m a huge believer in kindness and generosity and I—probably naively to a fault—think direct user support is the best way to run passion projects like Minimalissimo.
That’s what’s on the menu for the upcoming months. I do plan to be a lot more regular with these newsletters so unless something catastrophic happens you’ll hear from me again a lot sooner rather than later.
A couple of extra things: Carl has a new portfolio. If you like Minimalissimo you’ll definitely like his portfolio. iA posted a great article titled “Turning the Tables on AI” which you should read if like me you passionately believe humans should continue to produce quality content and not give up the task to AI.
Ok, that's all I got for you today. As always if you want to connect with me you can reach me at manu@minimalissimo.com. Have a great weekend everyone.
M.
Highlights
Sushi Mizukami by Keiji Ashizawa Design
Light Phone III by Light
LOBE Chair by Tamo
Il Generale by archisbang
John Pawson Furniture Collection by John Pawson x Dinesen
This monthly edition of the Minimalissimo newsletter was supported by aprile, the hanging chair
inspired by spring days and designed by Matteo Modica, aprile is a simple suspended chair that oozes elegance—a floating seat, shaped after spring petals, swinging gently. designed and handcrafted in Italy with artisanal love.
whether you're looking for visual inspiration or design insights, you can visit our gallery to discover the very best of minimalism in art and design.
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