Gayatri Gandhi is India’s first, and (so far) only, KonMari-certified consultant, which means she has been through a six-month grilling on organising things in the home, as taught by organisational consultant Marie Kondo. Her company, Joy Factory, follows the C2S2 approach: collect, choose, scrap, store. According to the method, you group items (like clothes) in an area (collect), and then pick them out one at a time, looking at them and asking yourself if they spark joy (choose).
“Our things are interlinked with our past and people associated with them,” says Gandhi. “You should love every item you own.” If it does not spark joy, you give it away (scrap). Or you put it away, every single item in its own ‘home’ (store).
Gandhi, who was certified just this April, says a part of her training was to tidy up her own home. The process was, she says, not only about clearing out stuff from her house, but also about getting rid of “dead energy”, “opening up new avenues”, and freeing up both physical and mental space. “It’s not about minimalism,” she says about the method, which she calls a philosophy and a way to mindful living.
Her clients are mostly from the Delhi region, with some from smaller cities in India such as Indore, Bhopal and Ludhiana. They often have large houses, many generations of the family living together, and lots of clutter. There has also been the odd couple that has a lot of ‘very good’ stuff. “One lady had about 10 dinner sets, and by the end of the discussion, she narrowed it down to two,” recalls Gandhi. “She eats out of her Noritake every day, and it gives her joy.” Counselling is a large part of the ‘letting go’ and ‘sparking joy’ process.
Here are some practical tips from Gandhi:
Always store vertically, whether it is clothes, books, or cutlery (upright in a glass) rather than piling things one on top of the other. This way, everything becomes more accessible.
For clothes and knick-knacks, boxes and baskets (including shoe boxes) work as space dividers. Clothes can even rolled up and placed one in front of the other. Ideally, drawers — not more than a foot and a half deep — are better than the large cavity-like cupboards we typically see in Indian homes.
While there is no rule on how to categorise your belongings, clothes are best separated by colour and sub-categorised into formal/informal wear, so you know how many of each you have.
Consultations with Gandhi range from ₹2,500 to ₹3,000 per hour. Details: joyfactory.in
