The Aesthetics of Clutter

I once read a piece about the author Ray Bradbury who talked about how his workspace was filled with objects of all sorts and shapes and sizes. There were knick knacks and paintings and statues and taxidermy beasties and books galore. Books on shelves, open on tables, stacked against chairs. In fact, you can see what it looks like in the opening credits of the TV series The Ray Bradbury Theater that aired in from 1985 to 1992 and are all available to watch on YouTube.

Anyone who subscribes to the minimalist aesthetic is probably hyperventilating into a paper bag at the mere thought of all that clutter. Not me. I felt vindicated when I read about, and then saw this. Finally, I thought, someone else who loves to surround themselves with a cornucopia of interesting and inspiring things. Things that stoke the creative fire.

This is why aesthetics are important. It’s the things we like and the style we choose to decorate the spaces we occupy that help to inform our work and the way we do it.

For me it means working in a space that can best be described as Victorian Apothecary Gone Mad. My front room (or parlour if we’re being posh) is where I do all of my creative work. It is filled with plants and old bottles and brass lamps picked up from the side of the road or found in thrift shops. All of the furniture is second hand and wooden. I have ink pots and dips pens lined up on the desk of an old escritoire. A turntable sits on my computer desk so I can play records while I work. On one side of the room is my painting space, with half finished canvasses and oil paints. In the corner is a day bed covered in velvet throws, plush cushions and a snoring dog and cat (unless it’s dinner time).

There is no space for guests, because I am an introvert who would rather travel two hours to visit someone (and leave when I want to) rather than have them visit me.

This is the only space I can work in.

The reason being: this is the only space I can completely control.

It is my sanctum; my laboratory of ideas. My art, strewn about the place, informs my words. My scribbles, written by hand in one of many notebooks, inform my next painting. It is a symbiotic relationship between two very different creative goals.

So, the space reflects the process. Much like an 8-track recorder, my mind can only think clearly when I have many things going at once and can flit from one to the other like a hummingbird. And, to take this avian analogy one bird further, like a magpie I surround myself with shiny things.

So, I suppose this is my ode to the aesthetics of clutter; to filling spaces with shells and candles and very old things. Here’s to filling the creative cup with a room full of delight.

I know minimalism is the favourite trend du jour, and many love to sit and write in yet another Nordic style cafe with noise cancelling headphones on while mainlining caffeine, but honestly, for me, that would a hell worse than <insert very hellish thing>. Give me my clutter and let the inspiration flow!

So, what about you? Are you, like me, a clutter bug? What does your perfect workspace look like? Let me know in the comments.