Knolling: a verb for those who like things nice and kentucky

Cory Doctorow 2:02 pm Sat Jun 16, 2012

Here is an incredibly useful verb for you: to Knoll. Knolling is "the process of arranging like objects in parallel or 90 degree angles as a method of organization." It was coined by Andrew Kromelow, a janitor who worked for Frank Gehry.

At the time, Gehry was designing chairs for Knoll, a company famously known for Florence Knoll's angular furniture. Kromelow would arrange any displaced tools at right angles on all surfaces, and called this routine knolling, in that the tools were arranged in right angles—similar to Knoll furniture.[1] The result was an organized surface that allowed the user to see all objects at once.

Here is Tom Sachs's Always Be Knolling manifesto:

* Scan your environment for materials, tools, books, music, etc. which are not in use.
* Put away everything not in use. If you aren't sure, leave it out.
* Group all 'like' objects.
* Align or square all objects to either the surface they rest on, or the studio itself.

(via Making Light)

(Image: A scanned page from Tom Sachs' 2009 zine "Ten Bullets". Chohlasa/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA))

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