Oh, the irony of it. First, Marie Kondo told us to declutter our homes and discard everything that didn’t ‘spark joy’. Now, the Japanese organisational guru — who advocated her KonMari method through social media, best-selling books, and a hit Netflix show — wants us to fill all that empty space with things from her new web store.
Launched on Monday (yes, right on schedule for the holiday season), the store has over 100 home and self-care products. It is “a collection of my favourite things and items”, Kondo stated on a Facebook post, adding that she put it together because people were always asking her “what I use in my everyday life”.
So, if you want to be zen and woke like the 35-year-old, you can start your mornings with a $75 Tuning Fork and Crystal, keep hydrated by sipping out of a $98 Balance Gem Water Bottle made in the German Alps, and store your healing brews in a $200 Tea Container. But, maybe, I’ll forego the $42 raw denim Flower Bouquet Tote in favour of my handy ₹20 cotton bag.
Products from the KonMari store
Of course, fans have not been silent. Criticism of her ‘consumerist turn’ has been flooding social media. While one tweeted, “I’m not sure what at #mariekondo’s new store sparks more joy — her $75 cotton towel or the $12 ‘Shiatsu Stick’,” another shared that the expensive products did not make her bank account happy. My favourite? The very succinct post, “What a real Kon job!”
But Kondo — who first ventured into retail last summer, with organising boxes, and now has a partnership with Japan’s biggest e-commerce site, Rakuten — has an answer for all the flak. “The goal of tidying is to make room for meaningful objects, people and experiences,” she says on her website. “I can think of no greater happiness in life than being surrounded only by the things I love.”
And lest you forget her minimalist standards, she also posted on Facebook, “Shop now at konmari.com – but don’t buy TOO much.”
Details: shop.konmari.com
