Minimalism has become a popular style, but according to the critic Kyle Chayka, the term is misunderstood. | Casey Dunn

Misunderstood as an aspirational home design aesthetic, minimalism is due for a reappraisal, according to a new book For the past few years, it seemed that everywhere Kyle Chayka looked, minimalism was staring back at him. The New York-based art and design critic has traced how the term has become a global aesthetic, an ?oppressive gospel,? and a self-help phenomenon. But when a woman wearing a T-shirt that read solely ?Minimalism? passed him on a Penn Station train platform, Chayka knew the word had morphed into meaninglessness.
?I was like, ?What is going on here" This word now truly means nothing,?? Chayka says. ?That was when I felt like it had peaked, that it hit the saturation point, that minimalism was just a total brand.? Has minimalism gone too far"
According to Chayka?who has written about conversation pits, Airbnb, and church-to-condo conversions for Curbed?what was once a useful concept for provoking mindfulness has become a superficial style commodified to death. But the ideas at the heart of minimalism?emptiness, reduction, and silence?are still valuable today as tools to give us space to define who we are as individuals.

The Longing for Less is available now from Bloomsbury for $27

In his new book The Longing for Less: Living With Minimalism (Bloomsbury, 2020), Chayka explores the history of minimali...