I am always on the lookout for inspirational minimalist videos and other content. Whether that be a novel, a documentary / film, a website or music. It does not even have to be explicitly minimalist, just help me reflect on the issues and ways I can live in a smarter way. One of my favourite things to do in my downtime or while having lunch is to watch YouTube on my PlayStation 4. Any ads being shown go to paying the creative people putting out the content. As a very early user of YouTube the platform has only grown in importance for me as a way of learning about pretty much anything or anyone. In this way I much prefer it to general, straitjacketed TV.
I’ve divided the playlist (available here) here into three sections: fashion, space and intentional living.
So here are 4 of my favourite minimalist videos.
Fashion inspiration
Sangiev is an up-and-coming* YouTuber with a dedicated following, growing week by week. With a university education in fashion, Sanj knows what he is talking about. What I like a lot about his videos is that he is well aware of how silly the fashion “game” can be – he always comes across as incredibly fair and down to earth. This video is all about his wisdom about finding your personal style. As he reflects, he’s got a pretty broad fashion sense, but what unites all of his experiments are his jewellery.
His five rules are: be honest, be open to inspiration, experiment, have a signature style, and have confidence. To thine own self be true, basically. It was a long path through experimenting and gaining confidence for me to get to the point where I am now, writing a blog like this.
*relative to the ‘huge’ accounts that is.
Another video from Sanj, this video resonates with how much I love to wear black trousers. He doesn’t wear any jeans here, showcasing more unusual fabrics and silhouettes than something like skinny jeans. So far this year I have bought three pairs of trousers (2 jeans, 1 tapered trouser) and all have them have been black. In-fact, all of my 2017 purchases (all five) have been black. This video provides some really cool thoughts on how to style such a ‘classic’ piece. These things are not always obvious.
To me there’s almost no better starting point for the minimal aesthetic than a pair of black trousers.
Space
Moving on to my current YouTube obsession, the channel Tokidoki Traveller. I first found out about Emma through the superb channel Living Big in a Tiny House, one of the best channels for minimalist videos, where she gave a tour of her ‘tiny home’ to the host. Tucked into a narrow room – the width of a corridor, with a bathroom, balcony and a kitchen, and a sleeping loft space – was this enthusiastic and relatable young Australian woman living in Tokyo. I don’t think you could live in a space like that and not have a sense of humour.
This video is about her new place which does look wonderful, particularly for a single person. Small space living does appeal to me, but I doubt I will ever do it. It reminds me of living out of a university dorm/halls when I was an undergrad and when travelling, but to a much more complete standard (no sharing of the kitchen or bathroom!).
I’d thoroughly recommend any of Emma’s videos, she deserves every subscribe she gets.
I first saw Al Bartlett’s lecture many years ago. What’s amazing about it, is that it makes you do the numbers. It shows you that growth is, usually, bad, and that resources are finite. The problem, for Bartlett, is population, but more accurately it is the consumerism, the growth-based economy that is the problem. It’s not enough for minimalism to be an individualist movement: it has to be about tackling macro-social and macroeconomic problems.
Bartlett hypothesises that the ‘greatest failing of the human race is their inability to not understand the exponential function [of % growth].’ He makes a convincing case. I also think one of the greatest failings of humans is their inability to understand the problem of ‘STUFF’, rather than seeing STUFF as a great thing. On this basis this is definitely a minimalist video, for me.
Featured image via pixabay
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