CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/5/2023

Kenya Hara on the art of Cleaning

Featured spreads are from Cleaning, the newest book from influential MUJI designer Kenya Hara. Weighing in at 504 pages, this pocket-sized paperback is a pleasingly thorough guide to the art of cleaning—featuring sections on sweeping, dusting, blowing, beating, washing, wiping, smoothing, raking, grooming, purifying, scrubbing, scraping, erasing, scooping, removing and clearing. Hara writes: “We call environments that people have created in response to nature ‘man-made.’ That which is man-made should be comfortable, but when materials that encroach upon or erode nature, like plastic and concrete, become widespread, people begin to yearn for nature. And yet, when nature is left to its own devices, dust and fallen leaves pile up, and plants thrive wildly. As a result, historically, human beings have lived by accepting nature to a certain extent and also keeping it moderately in check. And so, in creating a residence or a garden, it’s uncouth and tasteless to allow the man-made to predominate. We must allow nature a moderate reign, neither over-sweeping the fallen leaves nor over-pruning the greenery. Just as at the water’s edge, where the breaking waves cleanse the sandy beach, the ultimate secret of cleaning may be found where human agency and nature struggle against one another, in our pursuit of ‘moderate comfort.’ In 2019, we went around the world photographing scenes in which people were pictured cleaning. This was before COVID-19 swept the globe. We had been wondering if the very essence of human beings lies dormant in the everyday and ordinary work of cleaning, which transcends culture and civilization. When the entire world stopped, these photos and videos made us miss our ordinary routines. No matter how technology advances in the future, people are living things, embracing a rhythm of life that perpetually resonates in the depth of the body. We can move forward heeding this natural internal rhythm.”