My Story in Belle

For those of you who know me, I have a pretty dramatic story to tell about my past few years of life. I like to call it “The Three Octobers”.

October 2008 — job loss
October 2009 — major break-up
October 2010 — ovarian cancer (and the beginning of Minima)

Bad things come in threes, right? October 2011 was amazing, so I’m thinking my luck has turned around. In any case, all of those life challenges made me a better person and I’m thankful for that. Karen Newton (you may know her blog I Could Go On and On) wrote a beautiful piece about my story in this month’s Belle Magazine titled “Spare and Change”.


Sneak peak:

But the same day her legal documents arrived in the mail to create the company, Ziegler found out she had an ovarian tumor. The business she’d started had to be put on hold. “But having a vision of starting my business got me through surgery and chemo,” she says. “I was so excited about it all, so that was the light at the end of the tunnel for me.”

I’m thrilled to share my story with our city. You can read the full article here, or pick up a physical copy at any one of these locations.

Storefront Volunteer Thank You

Storefront friends and volunteers are invited to explore a partially renovated storefront at 122/124 E Broad St tonight from 5:30 to 8p.



This event, co-sponsored by Douglas Development, Polis Ventures, There/Here, and Storefront, will highlight the great potential for architectural revitalization and new business use on Broad Street. Participants will be invited to engage the streetscape with their design and innovation ideas in an interactive photo exhibit of Richmond’s downtown. Light fare from Comfort and beverages will be served.

Unhappy Hipsters

Many of you have probably seen this site already. If not, have a look. It’s a cynical/comedic take on modern life.

Richmond’s Rice House

Minimalist is a little late on our game with this one, but we thought you should know — one of Richmond’s historic gems, the Rice House, has been renovated with the help of the Science Museum of Virginia (located in Richmond).


Photo from the Science Museum’s website

“The home was built in the mid 1960s by well-known West Coast architect, Richard Neutra. It was donated to the Science Museum of Virginia Foundation in the mid 90s by the owner and former American Ambassador to Australia, Walter Rice. But for the past few years, the home stood vacant. That’s when the Science Museum of Virginia decided to step in.”

Read the full article and see more photos here.

Steven Holl in RVA

If you haven’t already heard, this is big news! World renowned Architect, Steven Holl, will be designing a new art gallery for VCU. Read the full article here.

Events This Week

This weekend is Memorial Day! I hope all of you have something fun planned. (I’ll be reuniting with some old college friends in Baltimore). In the meantime, here are a few fun happenings around town to keep you distracted until vacation time.

Wednesday, May 25 from 7 to 8:30p, Modern Richmond is hosting a film screening of Modern Views: A Conversation on Northwest Modern Architecture at the Virginia Center for Architecture located at 2501 Monument Ave. There’s a $10 admission, RSVP and get more info on Facebook here.

Thursday night is gonna be great. Sprout is hosting a free show (donations suggested) featuring Cinnamon Band (of Harrisonburg, recently toured with Handsome Furs), The Snowy Owls (of Richmond) and Silversmiths (of Richmond). I have seen the first two bands and I highly recommend! The show starts at 9:30p — RSVP on Facebook here. Also, this made me giggle (from The Snowy Owls webpage):

“The Snowy Owls have been observed as both solitary and social creatures. A single individual has been heard dissolving pop songs into enveloping sonic landscapes — a behavior also noted in other species such as the Yo La Tengo. When they gather in groups, the sounds range from sparse and dreamy to gritty and energetic, similar to Bedhead and Idaho varieties. Their vocalizations are typically hushed, creating intrigue through lyrical vignettes.”

Friday night, Balliceaux is hosting its third 1930s themed dance party — PLF Presents SPEAKEASY! Come dressed in your best fedoras, suspenders and/or flapper garb. The event begins at 10:30p and is free to all. There will be old time music mixed with new school tunes, a dance contest, costume contest and a photo booth. What a night. RSVP on Facebook here.

Virginia Modern

Virginia Modern is semi-new website/blog all about modern design in Virginia. Awesome! From their website:

“VA Modern was created in January 2011 to showcase and document architecture, art, and design throughout Virginia and into the extended Chesapeake Bay region. The site will evolve to become a collective source of well informed posts and resources on architectural design, architects, artists, businesses, and cultural institutions in the Mid-Atlantic, which contribute to or provide creative experiences to the public interested in a modern lifestyle.”

In addition to cataloging VA’s modern design, you can also find a listing of local architects and designers, modern furnishings, and related interests. (Minimalist is a featured interest — thanks guys!) Follow them on Facebook here.

Style vs Design

I had a great Google Chat conversation this morning with a good architecture school friend of mine living in Chicago. We have both always hated the word style when applied to architecture and design. It implies a sort of preconceived notion about what a space or thing should be. That’s the exact opposite of design. Design is about responding to context and constraints. There’s a process of study and discovery that leads to the final product — whether it be at the scale of an urban plan, a building, an interior space, an object or a graphic.

People often ask me what architectural style I like and I have to bite my tongue. I don’t want to come off as a snooty designer. It’s really hard to explain to people that design is not about style, though. Below is my architecture school thesis, which does not describe a style, but rather a belief system that leads me to a final design.

“Architecture has a responsibility to respond to the physical and cultural context it is a part of. The obligation of the response in my work has been to provoke the site through contrast in order to raise awareness of this context. This is done through the simplest, strongest formal act that gives the most for the least.”

If we all just focus on style, no progress can be made in the world of design. We will just continue to copy out of context what other people have done, probably not understanding why they made the design decisions that they made in the first place. I hope that Minimalist is a blog not about stylistic things, but about providing people with information to tackle their own design and/or life challenges. After all, minimalism is not a style, it’s a way of life.

The $200 Microhouse

An interesting article on repurposing materials to create small shelters. Read the full piece here.

“For ingenuity, thrift and charm, Mr. Diedricksen’s tiny structures are hard to beat. Made of scavenged materials, they cost on average less than $200 to build. They often have transparent roofing, which allows a fine view of the treetops, particularly in the smallest ones, where the most comfortable position is supine. They have loads of imaginative and decorative details: a porthole-like window salvaged from a front-loading washing machine, a flip-down metal counter taken from the same deceased washer. Mr. Diedricksen hates to throw anything away.”

As a designer, frugalista and environmentally concious person, I love what Diedricksen is doing. It’s kind of like “productive hoarding” — he collects “junk”, but reuses it in inventive ways rather than cluttering his home.

Tiny Fancy Cottage

While I don’t love the fussiness of this home, I do enjoy the incredibly efficient use of space. Take note of the A-frame book shelves, loft bed and stair-as-toolbox hidden storage.

“On Location: A Tiny Victorian Cottage”

Tiny-ness

While I don’t enjoy the aesthetic of the particular “tiny house” featured in this article, I do appreciate the concept.

“Tiny House Movement Thrives Amid Real Estate Bust”

Also, tiny apartment for the day below, via Emily Jones. I would love to live in a space that size! Just the thought of all the purging gets me excited. Too bad the studios in Richmond somehow seem to cost $800/mo and up. Send me an email if you know of anything cheaper.

“125 Square Feet! Kristen’s Minimalist Studio in Seattle”

My One and Only

After reading through the program for the LifeEdited competition (mentioned in a previous post) I started to think back on old projects from architecture school. One of my favorites was a piece of furniture I designed and built during an industrial design summer lab.

At the time I was living in an old house with wonderful character on Roanoke Street near downtown Blacksburg. My bedroom was very spacious (about 12’ x 13’) and had wonderful natural light. The space posed one major issue, however — there was no closet. Entering my third year of college and moving straight from the dorm rooms, I didn’t have any furniture for storage either. I decided to make a design project out of the challenge and worked with my industrial design professor and the woodshop guys to make it a reality.

My goal was to design one piece of furniture that could house everything I needed in my bedroom except the bed. The piece would have a workspace for my laptop, storage for my IKEA Kassett boxes that housed small items like socks, work supplies, photos and cosmetics and, of course, room for all of my shoes and clothing. I believe that a design should give the most for the least — economy of form. Not only would this piece of furniture have a place for everything I needed, but it would also act as a room divider, separating the calm sleeping space from the active work space.

After a lot of sketching and prototypes, I devised a modular system that could be rebuilt as many times as my needs would change. The frame was made of PVC pipe (before I understood how bad it was for the environment) and the shelving and shear walls were made of MDF. All of these materials were readily available “off the shelf” at Lowes.

I did in fact rebuild the piece multiple times between my third and fifth year of school. The photos below show the final layout, which I felt was also the most successful.











The best part — when I finished school and moved out of the room, I disassembled the piece and returned the PVC connectors to Lowes for a $200 store credit! Now that’s my kind of recycling.

LifeEdited Competition

I stumbled across an awesome design competition today — thanks to one of my best ladies, Brenda. It’s called LifeEdited [a tiny huge design contest] and runs from October 27, 2010 to January 10, 2011. The challenge is to “design a jewel box of an ultra-low-footprint apartment in 420 SF” in NYC for Treehugger founder Graham Hill. Some of the main goals include using one space for work/play/sleep/guests, digitizing everything possible, access versus ownership (Netflix, Zipcar, Airbnb, etc) and a general lifestyle of necessity (nothing extraneous). The grand prize is $10,000 cash along with a few other exciting treats like a Strida folding bike.

This is right up my alley. Man do I wish I had the time! Let me know if you’d like to collaborate — perhaps I could contribute to a team effort. My mind was racing with exciting ideas for minimal and space-saving design as I read the brief. I practice many of the habits described in the competition, such as a shoe-free home with a place at the door for storage. I call this “preventative maintenance”. No shoes equals cleaning the floors every other week versus every week! I’m also in the process of digitizing my old film photos and recently digitized and recycled all of my old planners. Less is more, lovely people.

Minimal Clutter. Maximal Life.

It’s official! Minima LLC (aka Minima) is my new professional organizing business. I have gained a wealth of experience over the past two years contracting and training with some of the best organizers in town. Combined with over ten years of space planning and design experience, I’m excited to bring a unique skill set to the organizing industry via Minima.

Why “Minima”? Lots of reasons! I consider myself a minimalist, but don’t expect my clients to be. Minima is a softer, less threatening term than minimalist. No, I will not make you purge all of your cherished possessions! Minima is also a calculus term that references the smallest value on a function curve. (P.S. — I LOVE calculus!) In organizing, I see minima as each client’s desired point on the organization curve. It’s a different place for everyone. Lastly, I enjoy the plurality of the word minima, also meaning “things that are minimal”. Living simply isn’t about one thing, such as your space. It’s a holistic approach to life and I hope to spread my passion beyond a client’s organized home or office.

I’ll be taking new clients starting December 1, but feel free to get in touch before then. I am happy to give a free phone consultation. One of my specialities is resale. If you have a lot of stuff, I may be able to sell it for you to offset (or totally cover) the cost of organizing services. I’m happy to craft a service for just about any budget. An uncluttered life should be achievable by all!

Stay tuned for a website and official logo in the coming weeks. In the meantime, contact me at (804) 482-1554 or kziegler83@gmail.com.

Fellow Minimalist

I stumbled across this blog by Alex Payne while researching minimalism this weekend. With a focus on technology, it’s a lovely collection of ideas and images.

Terre Design Studio

Meet Terre Design Studio, Richmond’s newest design firm. Recently formed by two of the sharpest ladies in town — UVA architecture grads Jennifer Clark and Laura Pitcher — Terre focuses on sustainability with a personal touch (“terre” means “earth” in several languages, very clever). They believe in creating accessible architecture for real people via a collaborative design process with all parties involved. Both ladies are LEED certified and know what’s up when it comes to green design.

Terre is currently focusing on small-scale projects such as home renovations/additions and interiors. Click on their link above, or contact them at (804) 592-0761 or info@terredesignstudio.com. Great people to work with — I highly recommend!

Ultra Tiny Homes in Japan

Super-small luxury houses might seem counter-intuitive to most Americans, who measure their floor space in the thousands of feet, not hundreds... the techniques in Japan could offer lessons on how to comfortably house residents in other teeming cities.

Small Footprint = Ecofriendly

Check out this apartment in Hong Kong — 330 SF with 24 “rooms”. The best way to be friendly to the environment is to avoid using resources in the first place. One great example is small space living — less materials and energy are used to create and maintain than in a larger space.

Love Her

This afternoon one of my favorite organizing clients greeted me with a present upon arriving at her home. We’ve come to know each other fairly well over the past several months and we definitely have similar lifestyle preferences. She had saved a bottle cap with a quotation that she thought I might like:

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Of course I love this. Upon further investigation, it came as no surprise that (along with being a pilot and writer) Saint-Exupéry was a student of architecture. I explained to my client that my design philosophy is subtractive rather than additive. I ask myself what can be removed, rather than what I should add to complete something. Her response — “I love you!” Well hey, I think you’re pretty awesome too.

She also told me she would not be offended if I threw away her gift. We understand each other for sure! Let’s just say I held onto it long enough to write this post. It’s the thought that made my day, not the object.

I guess I look at life the same way that I look at design. What’s necessary versus extraneous? I feel most alive when I don’t have clutter in my life — physical or metaphorical.

Reduce. Reuse. ReStore.

(And of course, recycle.)

The Habitat for Humanity’s Restore is a retail outlet that sells used and new building and home improvement supplies at substantially reduced prices. I made a trip over for the first time last week and was very impressed with their selection. Not only is it a great place to buy, it’s also an excellent donation spot for items that may not otherwise find a good home — used paint, old plumbing fixtures, casework, etc. You can also find bathroom vanities, blinds, doors, light fixtures, sinks, toilets, trim, windows and screens, and a bazillion other building parts in the massive warehouse. If you are doing any sort of home renovation, a visit to ReStore is a must!

They have a small thrift store-like section with furniture as well. I saw some nicely priced pieces — a Mid-Century desk and dresser and a sweet farmhouse kitchen table caught my eye.

I love the ReStore’s concept of recycling building materials via bargain resale to the public. It’s a win win for sure! Check out the Richmond location at 1901 Roane St.