September 2019 | (^95)
Marie Kondo wants to set the record
straight. The 34-year-old may be known
for clearing out household clutter in
favor of a tidy, everything-in-its-place
lifestyle. But she readily admits that the
Los Angeles home she shares with
her husband, Takumi Kawahara, and
their two daughters (ages 3 and 4) isn’t
always immaculate.
“To be honest, my situation has changed
since I was single,” says Marie, speaking
through a translator at the Palihouse hotel
in West Hollywood. “I’ve let go of needing
to maintain a perfect home all the time.”
This news may come as a surprise—
and perhaps a relief—to the millions of
people who have read her debut book, The
Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, or
binge-watched her Netflix show, Tidying
Up with Marie Kondo. But managing a
growing business and a growing family
has shown Marie that perfection isn’t
always attainable. “Being pressed for time
is common for all of us,” she says. “You
just have to accept the fact that you don’t
have a lot of time and that it’s OK.”
Obsessed with tidying since she was
a child, Marie started as a consultant
in Japan, helping clients organize their
homes. Since the beginning, her process
hasn’t been about (or only about) stuffing
and hauling garbage bags to thrift stores.
It also has always had a spiritual
component, perhaps informed by her
time years ago working at a Shinto shrine.
Marie kneels in her client’s home to greet
it then has them hold each possession in
their hands, keeping the item if it “sparks
joy,” in her words, or thanking it and
saying goodbye if it no longer serves
them. The point is to make both physical
and mental space for the life you want.
“Society at large is very exhausted by how
many possessions we have,” she says.
Marie’s home-improvement-meets-
self-improvement approach made her a
best-selling author in Japan in 2011 then
in the United States, where the book
was released in 2014. The author and
her husband (also her business partner)
moved their family to California nearly
three years ago to build her company,
KonMari Media. Her Netflix show
FASHION STYLIST: LUCY WARREN FOR THEONLY.AGENCY; HAIR AND MAKEUP: MEGUMI ASAI; MANICURE: MIHO OKAWARA; SOURCE: ISOMETRIC CHAIR IN WHITE OAK, $695; debuted earlier this year. (She’s in talks
KALONSTUDIOS.COM
BY
CHRISTINE LENNON
PHOTOS
JUSTIN COIT
PRODUCED BY
JESSICA THOMAS
PROP STYLIST
SCOTT HORNE
No, she does
not want
you to throw
away all
your books.
Or every last
tchotchke.
The author
and TV star
clears up
some myths
about her
methods—
and talks
about what’s
next.