"Spaces Around Things"

About "Spaces Around Things"
by MUJI 無印良品

Why is it that we unreservedly feel that the hanging scroll, the bud vase and the tea utensils arranged in a tearoom are beautiful when we look at them? Of course, the objects themselves are things of beauty; but when they are placed in a space where there is nothing unnecessary, their outlines are highlighted, and it seems as though their merits are brought out even further. It is because of well-organized spaces that good containers and beautiful bowls stand out. In the past, the lives of Japanese people abounded in this kind of beauty.

Living carefully with few things

Placing only a few things around means choosing things. And what's important is that there are empty spaces around things. Empty spaces produce a resonance in us. Looking at life today, inundated with things, and you could even think that affluence is inversely proportional to the amount of things you have. This is because you lose sight of a lot of things because of the number of things increasing. It would be a wonderful thing if you could live carefully, with few things. Being careful is being considerate. It could be said that it is also engaging in the act of "placing" something consciously. The empty spaces that arise with this action are things that we want to see materialize in modern life, too.

Storage space creates empty spaces

By not scattering things around in a room, day-to-day life becomes something rather simple. Looking at the floor plans of modern apartments from this perspective, it appears that storage space is obviously lacking. Even thinking that you want to live unencumbered by things, what's necessary is necessary. Usually with newly built apartments, customarily more than 10% of the floor space is given over to storage; but it can't be said that this is sufficient, even accounting for ease of use. What we mustn't forget is that the Japan of yesterday had the leeway to enjoy empty spaces because in the backyards of houses, there were storage rooms like warehouses.

Even in "Collective Ideas on the Shape of Homes", we have occasionally proposed various ideas regarding storage.

To enjoy empty spaces

The floor plan of the home we visited this time is an example of the actual home after it has been renovated. A large area has been set aside for storage space, while the bedroom has been made smaller to account for this. Unnecessary items are not placed in the bedroom, which is just for sleeping, but are stored in the storage room. And the other rooms likewise don't have a lot of things in them, making for an uncluttered space.

Having a space with nothing in it. And then in that space, placing only one thing that is really important. It can be said that this is enjoying the spaces around things, a typically Japanese aesthetic consciousness. In order to realize this, it's necessary to be equipped with an ample-sized backyard. Many people want to have large spaces, but no matter how big the space, you can't enjoy the spaces around things if things are all over the place. Having a large space with just a few things in it rather than having a large space - how about thinking in this way?

About Storage – Using Small Spaces in Large Houses and Large Spaces in Small Houses
by MUJI 無印良品

If only the house were a little bigger, then it would get tidied up… have you ever looked at the inside of your house, which never seems to be tidied, heaved a sigh and thought this? But talking to an expert on storage, the problem in whether a house is tidy or not doesn’t lie in the size of the house. The point is “using large houses in a small way and small houses in a large way”. It seems that you come to grasp the trick to storage when you figure out these words, which seem like a Zen riddle.

Using small spaces three dimensionally

This is a photo of a hallway wall storage unit with a shallow depth in the home of the expert on storage. It’s used as a place to stock condiments and the like.

Using a small storage space effectively means being thorough and using up every available inch of space. Storage spaces may be hard to use, with depths that are impossibly shallow, or the opposite, being too deep such that there is space left over in a half-baked manner. Doing nothing about this and just storing things away means that it is easy for space go to waste; putting things of different heights and sizes away means that there is empty space on top of things. While they may be sorted at the time, trying to squeeze things in on top of each other makes them hard to take out and hard to put back in – this kind of thing often happens in day-to-day life.

To use storage space so that there is no space wasted, you need to come up with a way to use it three dimensionally. In the photo, poles have been put across the space, and small jars have been arranged on them. By going further and arranging them so that you know what things are at a glance, then it makes it easier to put them back – this is the trick to storing things in a neat and tidy fashion.

In the home of this expert, as in the photo, condiments and seasonings have all been put into bottles or cases. For kitchen items, things have been divided into amounts enough for a few days, and only small bottles are kept in the kitchen. Doing this means that space in the kitchen is not taken up. Storing things means arranging things in a fashion such that they are readily usable, something that is impressive.

Creating a room where nothing is placed

It’s the complete opposite with large houses, however. You create one room in the house where nothing at all is placed. You make the decision to not put things in that room, and make every effort to keep it that way. For many people, the amount of things that they have gradually increases in proportion to the size of their houses. Even with a big house, having things take over spaces means that rooms become smaller, too.

At the expert’s house, the living room was such a room. Despite it not being a particularly large space, there weren’t many things around and so it looked very big. So as to ensure that things aren’t brought into the living room, the expert uses a “shoreline protection” strategy. Upon returning home, books go in the bookcase, documents in the document case – things are stored straight away in their given positions. Mail is sorted into things that are needed and things that aren’t in the entry hall, and things that aren’t needed are disposed of right there, using the small garbage bin in the entry. Inside the storage rack in the entrance, a space has been set aside for things that temporarily don’t have a place. In this way, taking things into the living room is prevented.

By deciding “I’m not putting anything in the living room except furniture”, it is possible to increase the storage efficiency of other parts of the house. And by deciding on a set place for everything, you don’t buy things that are a waste, and you don’t always have to be searching for things. Overflowing things get thrown away with good grace. It’s something that is rather difficult to do, but deciding on a storage space encourages the decision to “throw away”.


Using large houses in a small way and small houses in a large way” means “use small places in a big way and big places in a small way”. They’re wise words. How about giving it a try, and using small spaces efficiently? You’re bound to discover new storage ideas.

Putting Things Away "So You Can Use Them". Lessons in Storage.

by MUJI 無印良品

Our lives abound with things. Taking a questionnaire survey about the organization and storage of things, and actually visiting customers' homes, we've come to understand that a lot of people are worried about ways in which to organize the ever-increasing amount of things that they have.

Throwing things away

Reasons for not being able to organize things fall into two groups. One is that there are too many things for the space they inhabit. There's a limit to the amount of things that a person is able to manage. The more the amount of things in a house increases, the more difficult it becomes to put them in some semblance of order. (See "The Courage to Throw Things Out" in our previous Collective Ideas on the Shape of Homes column here)

So, what should we do so that things don't start piling up in our homes? The most basic solution of all to this is to throw things out.

When you buy something and bring it home with you, if you don't either consume it or take the same amount of things that you brought in out the next morning, then it's a given that things will increase. Books and magazines, CDs, clothes… buying mundane things, it means that we have to throw out the equivalent amount of things that the number of things in our homes has increased by.

Another solution to the problem is simply not to bring things into our homes.

In the results for "About Storage", the third of the second stage Shape of Homes questionnaire, one of the opinions we received said, "Make a list of things that you want (write down concrete design, manufacturer etc) and ensure that you are able to buy these things without hesitation when you find them out on sale etc". That is, not "not buying", but taking stock of things and only buying things that you really really want, or things that you need. The more you have taken careful stock of things and then bought them, the more attached you become to them, and you try to use them with care, which means that they last longer; as a result, this means that it is harder for things to pile up.

Deciding on a fixed position

The second reason for not being able to organize things is that each thing does not have its own fixed position.

"Organizing things" means storing things away in such a way that they are easily accessible when you want to use them. Organizing things such that they are lined up neatly and are pleasing to the eye is also important, but it could be said that the essence of organizing things lies in being aware of "functionality" when storing things away, so that there is no needless movement involved when you want to use them.

For example, let's think of how we usually move around in our own homes. First, prepare a floor plan of your house, and then draw lines to show your own movements in completing each activity you undertake. When you clean the house each day, where do you start to clean, and in what order do you move around the house to clean it? When you do the laundry, from hanging the laundry out to dry to putting things away, in what way do you move and where?

Let's now join the movements undertaken for each activity with lines. If we arrange things that are necessary for each situation or activity along these "flow lines", then when we want to use them, we can do so easily.

It is also necessary when deciding on a fixed place for things to go to label things so that you know where things are stored or where they should be stored at a glance. At one house we visited, books and shirts were arranged according to color in a way that was easy to understand.

And we need to allow for a bit of leeway in terms of storage space. When we try to store something away, it is often the case that it doesn't fit in its designated place, and so we "temporarily" place it somewhere else. But this is the root of confusion. If you leave something in a place to which it is not suited once, then in no time at all, you have an accumulation of a variety of things there.

"Being able to take things out quickly" and "putting things away straight away". These are simple things, but if we keep them in mind when we are storing things, then things will naturally be organized.

There seems to be a hint to how to organize things efficiently in the idea of "putting things away so that you can use them". It could be said that a person's way of living shows itself in their way of "holding things",. Taking steps to ensure that you are able to use an appropriate amount of things for a long period of time, at the same time having things well arranged. That's the kind of life I want to lead.