For as long as I can remember, I’ve been caught between being highly organized and incredibly messy in my workspace. I thrive when everything is in its right place, but I also allow myself to dive headfirst into long creative processes—often leaving my shop or studio in a royal mess. Tools, notebooks, pens, knives, cables, drawings—everything.

Also, for as long as I can remember, I’ve used a method to quickly reduce the clutter and restore order, though I only later found out it had a name: Knolling. I first came across the term in Adam Savage’s book Every Tool’s a Hammer, where he describes how he had done it instinctively all his life—without knowing it had a name. He learned the word from artist Tom Sachs, who, in turn, picked it up from a janitor in Frank Gehry’s furniture shop in the late 1980s.

Knolling is a method of quickly organizing a workspace by arranging objects at 90-degree angles or in parallel lines. It instantly creates order, settles my mind, and allows me to focus on the task at hand. Over time, I’ve made Knolling part of my daily routine, and I’ve encouraged my team to do the same. It’s a great way to maintain a tidy workspace without losing track of where things belong.

How do you keep your workspace organized?

Do you have a lifelong secret for hiding clutter in the bottom drawer, or do you just leave a mess at night and hope elves clean it up by morning?

Stay inspired,
Jens