Cluttercore: How to embrace the magic of mess or curated chaos

Just as we’re sold on the idea of culling our belongings, a trend develops that encourages us to make a feature of them

Fri, 21 Jan, 2022 - 20:00

Carol O’Callaghan

The inevitable has occurred: the backlash against declutterer-in-chief Marie Kondo and her calm orderliness, by the hoarders, anti-minimalists and collectors, and maybe even the new-found decluttering evangelists who filled a bin bag with domestic excess but chickened out of taking it to the charity shop.

Less is more does not apply when you make a virtue of displaying your possessions rather than culling them. (Gold Links mirror top console table, €270 from www.audenza.com).

Cluttercore, as we’re calling it in the biz, has arrived in all its over-the-top messiness, where stuff — and plenty of it — is enthusiastically embraced and a certain type of chaos prevails.

This one, though, is a curated chaos, intentional clutter if you will, where walls swell with beautifully arranged pictures, cushions breed on the sofa, rugs overlap and knick-knacks with all their dust-gathering potential are rebranded as objet d’art.

But wait a moment if you’re thinking this style is an excuse not to clear up the dirty wine glasses and biscuit wrappers abandoned on the coffee table, or justifying the collection of clapped-out greying bras mouldering in the drawer. It ain’t.

Cluttercore is the opposite end of minimalism which some call maximalism, and it has style, with one of its high-profile fans being interior designer, product designer and author Abigail Ahern who’s written a how-to book called Everything: A Maximalist Style Guide (Pavilion Books, €35), explaining how it works and how to achieve it.

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“I think maximalist interiors have had a bad rap in the past,” she says, “because spaces can look like they’ve been decorated by someone who’s had seven cups of coffee while nursing a hangover — chaotic and messy — with an overwhelming thoughtlessness and disarray that feels jarring and not at all serene.”

If this sounds like the interiors style you’ve been waiting for to soak up all your flea market and vintage shop finds, this might be the look for you, but key to making it work to create an attractive interior style that reflects your personality is to start small, according to Abigail.

“It’s almost impossible to figure everything out in one go,” she says, “but when you break rooms down into zones it’s so much easier. Once you get started, you’ll have the confidence to move on.

"Mood boards are a great tool for getting off the starting blocks when it comes to figuring out your own style. I find it best if you start with one strong image. That could be something like a page torn from a magazine or a swatch of amazing fabric. Before long you’ll notice a common thread appearing.”

Admittedly, we know the likes of Instagram and Pinterest can be inspiring resources for any type of interior project but there is so much information on these platforms, plus the influence of magazines and home interior TV shows, the job lot can be more overwhelming than actually proving helpful in honing our preferences.

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Abigail references three tasks to help, which are not at all difficult as it turns out, including thinking about your dream holiday destination which she says, “says a great deal about your style”.

Encouraging us to muse on whether we’d love a stay in a beach house or a cabin nestled in the forest, she also suggests considering the way you dress as an indicator. Is it bold or neutral, conservative or boho?

Her second suggestion is to take to the drawing board which for someone like me who can’t draw a straight line actually turns out not to be as daunting as you’d imagine.

“I know this sounds super interior design,” she says, “but if you want to create a personality-packed home, consider drawing up a floor plan.”

Her idea with this one is to allow us to look at the bones of a room and what to highlight, like a fireplace, and what to hide, like radiators.

Her third suggestion is a mood board, the old reliable for pulling together photos of items you like.

“My biggest piece of advice,” she adds, “and this relates to overcoming a fear of anything — including spiders — is to slowly build up your confidence. Start small. Rather than looking at maximalising the whole thing, zone it into small sections.