Simplicity at Home

The feel and art in this book give it such a calming effect. I like how it seeks to help you make things in your life with sustainable fabrics and truly has some great ideas for reusing scraps and ripped fabric to make something else useful for the home. This book is gorgeous and simple.

Very interesting and beautiful book. I found some pretty good ideas to implement in my own home. Definitely recommend as a gift for others or yourself

A beautiful argument for minimalism written in accessible prose. Much of what Sekine suggests are gentle, sweet, and comforting ideas-linen for the summer and warm materials for the winter, handmade pottery to make meals feel special, dying your clothes to give them a new life. Flowers and preserving food are in abundance. Some of the projects are a little advanced but inspiring-like making miso from scratch and spoon carving.

Another amazing addition to the Chronicle Books oeuvre. visually stunningly and well written thoughtful prose. I would have liked some info on
Architectural detail, choice of building materials and pictures of the new house that anchors the chapters. The sections on bathing, garden design, color palette and crafting with linen scraps were super interesting. I was pretty surprised by the number of possessions be they treasured or practical so well curated, somehow I live with much less and prefer a bit of disorder while appreciating how order works for the majority. great sushi office party, Overall not how the ninety nine percent live but a fun aspirational escape

This is a tricky book for me to rate. I have to admit that I didn't like the style of home featured at all. Everything seemed to be in shades of gray and it's just not my aesthetic. I am also not much of a minimalist (okay, who I am kidding, I have the kind of house that gives minimalists hives) and I don't want to be. The author runs a Japanese store that sells quality linens and at times the book reads like an ad for linen and her store.

All that said, what I did appreciate was the glimpse into Japanese homes and culture, along with her projects. I was thrilled to see that she actually gives instructions on how to do the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with golden materials and it's actually relatively simple and accessible. I have always loved that and just assumed it was something I couldn't do that involved pure gold (I'm sure it did originally). There are lots of other crafts like that to show you how to make a lovely little wreath, fabric crafts, etc. I also really appreciate the philosophy of using everything in a new way instead of disposing of things (like her linens are repurposed into woven mats when they are too worn for the bed). The book is arranged by seasons and it really gives a lovely feel of life in Japan, with lots of ideas that even I -- in my messy Minnesota home -- am happy to try.

I read a digital temporary ARC of this book for review.

This is an elegant and charming guide to a Japanese, minimalist style of living. The photos are stunning and make you want to at least try out some of the ideas although for most people I know the level of minimalism suggested in the book would be unattainable.

I like to be organised, but compared to the images in Simplicity at Home, my wardrobes and cupboards are a cluttered mess. Although I know I will never achieve the elegant beauty of Yumiko Sekine's house, I found her ideas inspiring. I'm already thinking of ways how to incorporate them into my lifestyle.

I particularly liked that the book is not only about furniture or the author's beloved linen, but that there are also recipes included and instructions for how to make a wooden spoon! Rather than a set of rules or guidelines, I understood the book as a starting point, an inspiration for how to change our lives to attain more simplicity and ease and to focus on the important things.

If you yearn for a simpler life, this book might be a good place to start. It offers advice for creating a calmer, minimalistic home by following Japanese traditions. There are also meal recipes and guidance on everything from mending ceramics using ‘kintsugi’ to patchworking and selecting plants. A must for fans of Japanese culture.

Beautiful photographs and including some simple crafts and recipes, but ultimately completely lacking in every way except as a personal puff piece and extended advertisement for the author's store. Disappointed.

This was such a quick read. I only downloaded it this morning and I am finished already. 70% of the book I will admit, consists of pictures. They were beautiful and in my opinion, really made the book come to life.

Yumiko Sekine is the founder of the lifestyle brand Fog linen works. In this book, she explores her Japanese traditions, crafts, organisations, recipes and lifestyle. Yumiko Sekine's style is very minimalistic, not really my taste, but I loved reading about her thoughts and her traditions. Why she organised things in that particular way.

The pictures, I will admit won me over. They are absolutely stunning and this is why this book got 4 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was inspirational to read to pare down and minimize my own belongings. It had a few good recipes and ideas on how to upcycle what you already have. Although I'm not 100% sold on linen I like how the author makes it her own and finds a way to make it work for her own wardrobe. I enjoyed reading the history and personal touches the author adds to the story.

This was a very lovely, calming book. It had a nice balance of photography. I loved the recipes and ideas. I think this is a wonderful book for anyone looking for some inspiration in simplicity.

I loved reading Simplicity at Home by Yumiko Sekine as I loved her selection of colors, fabrics and interior design ideas. I found her book to be a lovely, peaceful read. If you are looking for decorating ideas using ideas that promote serenity you will love her book.

Recommend.

Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

This book is BEAUTIFUL. It absolutely should be on your shelf. It is full of practical advice. I really enjoyed the calm aesthetic of the book. The writing is a mix of history, travel, personal, and practical advice on homemaking and cultivating an soothing home experience.

I particularly enjoyed the Japanese Bath section, the Art of Kintsuji section, and the Organizing the closet section.

I have greatly enjoyed this book. After living in Japan for 7 years I have been missing my other home and in those pages I found the aesthetics and culture I love. The simplistic lifestyle explained in this book is very compelling, it inspired me to seek real linen for my house and try to only keep the beautiful day to day objects around myself. This is a wonderful minimalist book that follows seasons, something I'm particularly appreciative of, Seasons are so important punctuation of life and seem to have been crushed to nothing more than weather in western countries. The lifestyle advice is lovely and written in a very pleasant way, very personal, a bit like getting insights from your grandma to enjoy your life more without waste, without stinginess either, just with love for simple things. I also loved the diy sections, especially the one to repair broken pottery and ceramics, and finding all of that interweaved with home style tips and recipes.
I really recommend this book for people who enjoy uncluttered lives, japan, modern interior design, doing things with their hands, learning about other cultures, reading autobiographies.

This book was so calming to read and the accompanying illustrations made it even better. This aesthetic and approach are quite different for me but I still enjoyed the book and saw some things that I would consider implementing into my home. This is a great book for people that love home decor and are looking for inspiration.

Beautiful and inspiring but fairly limited in practical application. Regardless, a design book I think plenty would enjoy reading.

Do your bowls break cleanly into two or three pieces? Mine either chip unattractively or smash so comprehensively that we’re still picking shards out of our feet two weeks later. I mention this because one of the little projects in this book is kintsugi - the decorative mending of broken crockery.
Although there’s some attempt to unify the book’s content under the theme of the seasons, it is really more of a series of blog posts, showcasing the author’s style. Sekine’s style is certainly simple – unfortunately, I also found it a little dull. What’s more, Sekine loves linen (at times, it all seemed like an advert for her linen shop) – but I’m personally not a linen fan.
There were things that I enjoyed though. I’ll never be a minimalist but I bookmarked the chapters on ‘Creating a New Home’ and ‘Starting to Fill the shelves ‘ – I like the idea of spreading out your perfectly curated belongings on display (but I’d also need a closed cupboard to hide away the rest of my stuff!)
All in all, this book would make a lovely gift for a friend, a more stylish person, who would find excitement in griege linen and whose crockery breaks far more neatly than mine.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

As a person who is interested how others live a simpler way of life, this was a book that caught my interest on Netgalley. Using traditions and the way they want to live their life, this book shows different ideas in various areas of your home. It was interesting to see and read different values and how you are raised influences your decisions in life. This book goes beyond homemade cleaners and getting rid of STUFF. It shows how to mend broken pottery using a gold fusing technique and how to hand carve your own spoons. Although I found this book interesting, it’s not one I see incorporating into my life but others with similar lifestyles may enjoy the peaceful photography and techniques.

Simplicity at Home is a style, decor, and philosophy book by Yumiko Sekine. Due out 9th Feb 2021 from Chronicle Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a graphically beautiful and restfully appealing book. The abundantly photographed interiors and decor shots are very well curated and simple as well as elegant and minimalist. The linens and table settings especially are very well done. There is a lot of emphasis on natural fibres (mostly linen) and clean lines combined with monochrome (mostly undyed linen with a few touches of blue/indigo).

Photos and interiors are arranged by season - Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring. These are thematic chapters (not really suggestions for decorating by season). The author makes a number of good points about choosing belongings wisely and making conscious choices about what appeals to us, what we keep around us, and what we dispose of (and why). There's quite a lot of Japanese minimalist philosophy and anti-consumerism throughout the book which will be welcome for some and uncomfortably close to a profoundly guilt-inducing truth for many others (me, it's me).

Without going full-on Marie Kondo - nearly all of us are surrounded by too much stuff. Curating our belongings is a good idea. I read these books and agree philosophically - but still wind up surrounded by yarn/studio cabinets so full of yarn and fabrics that they are constantly threatening to explode.

Anyhow, this book is wonderfully illustrated and beautifully curated. I would heartily recommend it to readers who enjoy interior design, organization, home interiors, and the like. Much of the content is slanted to the FogLinenWork brand aesthetic, but there is enough general information included to make it a worthwhile read for lovers of the genre and the eastern minimalist design style.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

The first thing that drew me to this book was the beautiful cover. I loved the cover picture of a simple and pretty table that invited me in to read the book. The second thing that drew me to the book was the gorgeous pictures. I loved all the pictures throughout the book. Once I started reading I realized the book wasn’t just pretty, but very inspiring and practical. The book is divided into seasons and was simple and practical to follow along. I felt like I was following a very logical train of thought. The book is filled with a lot of pictures from her personal home. Her style doesn’t match mine perfectly, but I am not reading design books to copy and paste into my own home. I’m reading them to be inspired and take pieces and parts that I can incorporate into my own home after putting my own spin on them. I loved her inclusion of so many tutorials and recipes to try. She includes a tutorial to whittling spoons, filling cracked ceramics with gold, growing a garden, reusing fabric for home linens. There were several projects that I am now interested in dipping my toe into. The Japanese are known for their minimalistic home decor approach and this book reflects that. She shows how a home can be full of beautiful things without being cluttered. I would read this book again and I would recommend it to others.

Everything about this magnificent tome is stunning. It is a sparse yet elegant. It is detailed in that you are invited to share an ethic of space and time put to its most valuable use. It offers a way to serenity of space , which in turn clears the mind . I loved every page and envied anyone daring enough to begin fresh.

My interest in Japanese style, food and décor really began when I visited Japan in 2019. There is such a great tradition of attention to detail in Japan that it elevates something ordinary to extraordinary. This is reflected in the book, Simplicity at Home by Yumiko Sekine’s with Jenny Wapner by Chronicle Books.
Yumiko is the founder of Fog, Linen Work, a lifestyle (and online) store in Tokyo that sells home products and linen apparel.

The book is about Yumiko’s Japanese lifestyle and aesthetic which is simple, minimal and a mix of Japanese and Western influences. I find it very much a Japanese lifestyle but also can be a guide for any modern lifestyle now due to its focus on simplicity, minimizing waste, reuse, repair and buying items that last. The lifestyle rituals are naturally categorized into the four seasons and encompasses recipes, décor, dressing tips (paring down to a capsule wardrobe which I especially loved), carving your own spoons (😊), repairing ceramics (interesting for me as I did not think it could be done). It dovetails nicely with her store which I am loving. Note that some ingredients for the recipes may be difficult to obtain, if you are not in Japan.
Recommended for those interested in the Japanese/minimal lifestyle, natural materials, home décor and Japanese way of living.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @Chroniclebooks for the ARC.

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