Simplicity at Home: Japanese Rituals, Recipes, and Arrangements for Thoughtful Living

by Yumiko Sekine

Jenny Wapner (Secondary Author)

A gorgeous guide to creating a beautiful, comfortable home based on Japanese traditions from the founder of the beloved lifestyle brand Fog Linen Work.

For anyone who dreams of a home filled with well-organized closets, eye-catching flower arrangements, perfectly draped blankets, and thoughtfully curated shelves, here is a guide to cultivating an elegant home.

Yumiko Sekine, founder of the internationally celebrated lifestyle brand Fog Linen Work, shares lovely rituals and simple techniques based on Japanese traditions, including practices for decorating, organizing, preparing food, and more. From the kitchen to the bedroom and every space in between, here are tips for refreshing a home each season—arranging and displaying fresh flowers in spring, choosing the right sheets and linens for summer, taking warm herbal baths in autumn, and draping blankets and layering rugs to cozy up a space for winter. Brimming with easy-to-follow tips for elevating any space and packed with hundreds of photographs showcasing gorgeous interiors, this book is an invitation to create a home that nourishes, rejuvenates, and inspires—all year long.

•⊂ CELEBRATED AUTHOR: Yumiko Sekine is the founder of Fog Linen Work, a Japanese home goods brand sold throughout the world and beloved by home cooks, interior decorators, and design enthusiasts. Her products are known for their simplicity, beauty, and ability to elevate any space. In this book, Sekine distills all her secrets to creating a home that exudes simple elegance.
•⊂ ORGANIZATION MADE EASY: This book gives readers easy, elegant ways to declutter their homes and organize their belongings, whether they live in an apartment or house, and includes simple tips for tidying and curating objects to bring order and simplicity to every room.
•⊂ JAPANESE TRADITIONS: Yumiko presents Japanese traditions for preparing food, arranging flowers, entertaining, organizing, and more. The combination of ancient practices and modern techniques makes this the perfect companion for anyone curious about Japanese culture and aesthetics.
•⊂ GIFT WORTHY: Presented in a linen-wrapped case and brimming with hundreds of gorgeous photographs and inspired advice for every home, this book is a perfect addition to any bookshelf and a lovely gift for new homeowners, newlyweds, and fans of organization and interior design.

Perfect for:

•⊂ Interior designers, minimalists, and fans of sustainability
•⊂ People who are into organizing their space
•⊂ Fans of Fog Linen Work

• ISBN13: 9781797202952
• Publish Date: 18 February 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Chronicle Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 224
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Simplicity at Home is a style, decor, and philosophy book by Yumiko Sekine. Due out 9th Feb 2021 from Chronicle Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a graphically beautiful and restfully appealing book. The abundantly photographed interiors and decor shots are very well curated and simple as well as elegant and minimalist. The linens and table settings especially are very well done. There is a lot of emphasis on natural fibres (mostly linen) and clean lines combined with monochrome (mostly undyed linen with a few touches of blue/indigo).

Photos and interiors are arranged by season - Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring. These are thematic chapters (not really suggestions for decorating by season). The author makes a number of good points about choosing belongings wisely and making conscious choices about what appeals to us, what we keep around us, and what we dispose of (and why). There's quite a lot of Japanese minimalist philosophy and anti-consumerism throughout the book which will be welcome for some and uncomfortably close to a profoundly guilt-inducing truth for many others (me, it's me).

Without going full-on Marie Kondo - nearly all of us are surrounded by too much stuff. Curating our belongings is a good idea. I read these books and agree philosophically - but still wind up surrounded by yarn/studio cabinets so full of yarn and fabrics that they are constantly threatening to explode.

Anyhow, this book is wonderfully illustrated and beautifully curated. I would heartily recommend it to readers who enjoy interior design, organization, home interiors, and the like. Much of the content is slanted to the FogLinenWork brand aesthetic, but there is enough general information included to make it a worthwhile read for lovers of the genre and the eastern minimalist design style.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.