Decoration: what if we tried the (organized) bazaar in 2023?

Marie Kondo has to turn over in the monochrome bed of her minimalist apartment. A new decorative trend is born: the bazaar. Controlled, of course. It is therefore a fake brothel that bears the Anglo-Saxon name of Cluttercore. Literally, the “essential disorder”.

Hundreds of occurrences under his hashtag on Instagram and several million views on TikTok. Although its exact opposite, the Clutterfree (the orderly), keeps the advantage. This emerging craze is the logical consequence. The last few years have seen the triumph of sleek interiors where the most popular resembled Muji showrooms enhanced with a hint of vintage Swedish furniture. Fashion, cyclical, loves to wallow in one extreme then the other.

So, if the first confinement enjoined us rather to relieve ourselves of the superfluous, the second invites us to quite the opposite.

Something reassuring

Plants, books, picture frames, stuffed animals, charms, statuettes, paintings, stuffed ferret, bicycle helmet, candles, guitar, hats, plastic flowers, decorative plates, and other potpourri must clump together, pile up, squeeze together against each other for a loaded rendering, bordering on kitsch. And to contain all this happy little world: tapestries, wallpapers, rugs, tablecloths, carpets and garish walls. The desired sensation is the comfort of a felted cocoon like a cabinet of curiosities. It’s not Hygge, as the Danes say. It is rather of Frida Kahlo obedience or decorative duck collector scottish living room. And it is not a hazard.

“There is something reassuring about surrounding yourself with many objects. They obey us. The collector is the little king of this place. Which is all the more necessary when the outside is as scary as it is today.decrypts Anne Beyaert-Geslin, semiotician specializing in image and design, author of “Sémiotique des objets”, on the relationship of objects to time.

She then tells us the story of a man who collected elephants. His house was full of them. There were posters, flags and jewelry. The man also liked to surround himself with wedding figurines, those that are put on the cakes. ” A collector of collections. He was an only child and all of his parents’ family had been killed during World War II. Surrounded by his collections, it’s as if he were a little less alone “. Thus, this man spent all his time tidying up and polishing his favorite objects.

Indeed, don’t get me wrong, Cluttercore is like the messy bun of the Parisienne: it’s a lot of work. To achieve a neglected effect, follow the advice of interior design pros or the magazine ” She “. What we want, tells us the feminine, it is a skillfully orchestrated accumulation around complementary colors. What we don’t want is a sincere mess. Shame.

By dint of Tsundoku, this Japanese word which designates the accumulation of stacked books that you do not read and which end up drawing the New York skyline in your interior, we would have been in for a real good upside down. Instead, you have to create the orderly mess yourself first, before putting it away. First step: choose a universe for your clutter. There are dozens of them. bohemian chic Theo Gosselin way and Lou Doillonthe around the world in 80 baubles, the British intellectual who returns from the huntthe cartomancer emo-gothic witchthe mind tasteful family farmhouseor the apprentice horticulturist in the greenhouse.

” The used ethical object is more valuable than the new one »

“The personal touch seems important. We break away from the consumer society to reclaim objects, which, in addition, seem old or which may belong to another culture. We can then alter them, expand them, repaint them or divert them. There is a real need for the ‘self-made’ and the used ethical object, which then has more value than new. Even the plants are dated. Ficus, Mother-in-Law’s Tongue and Sansevieria… Or exotic: cactus”, explains Anne Beyaert-Geslin.

In 2020, it would therefore seem that the cool is more in the wooden crate revisited as a bohemian shelf than in an Eames armchair. Question of budget of course. But not only.

“ Designer pieces no longer have a place in these interiors. They would be buried there under countless cozy throws and cushions. What matters is no longer to stand out socially with a beautiful object but to create an imperfect warm space. Unlike minimalism, which aims to be irreproachable, cluttcore seems to embody a sympathetic negation of perfection confirms Anne Beyaert-Geslin.

The fake family

We then bet on a family chest of drawers, an old mirror, a statuette brought back from a trip. But not only. It can also, and is often the case, be fake. Fake old, fake family, fake travel. ” Furniture and objects must have a story, even if it is not ours and even if it is only in appearance”. It’s Phoebe, an orphan character in the series Friends, who only wants to own antique objects picked up at flea markets but finds herself in spite of herself with the entire catalog of an American Zara Home in her living room, between a falsely aged apothecary table and folding screen that has only 1930s style.

Not everyone inherits their great-grandmother’s secretary. So, it’s a nice idea to be able to write your own memories by buying a family history made of comforter objects. Anne Beyaert-Geslin also emphasizes that this familiar feeling can also come from accumulation, an essential component of this disorder which is not one: “ Some objects have no isolated flavor, but become marvelous glued together, assembled together”.

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And for those oppressed by this string of decoration enhancers, it is always possible to fall back on the cousin of the Cluttercoreeven more famous, the CottageCore. Or the passion for a fantasized country life. More airy. Or, if you have nothing on hand after having sorted through your wardrobes, you can always “clutter” not your living room, but a virtual space. It’s certain Animal Crossing video game that Cluttercore is at the height of its hype. It’s up to you to see how far you want to encumber yourself.