Ep 75 | Exploring the KonMari Book Controversy with Robin Mitchell Cranfield

Robin Mitchell Cranfield, a graphic designer and illustrator who specializes in book design for art galleries and children’s books, shares her thoughts on the KonMari book category.

Her work has been recognized by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), the Alcuin Society, and How Magazine. Robin teaches typography & book design at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

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In this episode, you’ll enjoy:
-Learning about the KonMari Book category controversy.
Washington Post: Keep Your Tidy Spark Joy Hands Off My Books

The Guardian: What We Gain From Keeping Books

-We discuss some of the reasons that people have reacted to the books category with a lot of emotion.

-What Marie Kondo has actually said about books.
Book lovers, Relax: Marie Kondo is not coming for your books

-The unanticipated benefits of the KonMari process in the books categories.
Learn about Kenya Hara and the book as a physical object.
The Hara Design Institute

-About tokimeku.
The Japanese Translation of Spark Joy

-How Robin has sorted and organized her own books.

-If you are tidying your books and looking for more details and tidying advice, check out our original book discussion via Spark Joy episode 57 | KonMari Books Category: Building a Library of Joy.

Robin’s favorite tidying tip: “Feel free to discard book jackets. The jacket can be visually distracting to some people, so feel free to let it go if you want.“

What Sparks Joy for Robin: Google images! Uses images as a means to discover new wonders in nature with her son.

Robin’s book recommendation:
The Kitchen Counter Cooking School

You can reach Robin at robinmitchellcranfield.com or on Twitter at @robincranfield

Gems:
“There’s been a panic in the book publishing world about the death of the book. However, people have been panicking about the death of books since they went from hand writing books to the printing press.”

"It's interesting that people who are otherwise live-and-let-live are really quick to tell people how they should feel about books!"

"Books are physical objects that hold not just the written contents, but the experience of holding the book itself. That is why Marie Kondo's tapping of the book to "wake it up" is so interesting to me."

“Marie Kondo’s metric is to suggest that you find your own metric.”

“Tidying the books in my home opened up my awareness of new types of books to explore.”

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Robin Mitchell Cranfield.