Posted on: March 15, 2006
You Got Punk’d!
A peculiar new design philosophy brings chaos to your by-the-numbers abode: just don’t forget to bring a chainsaw.
By Timothy R. Schulte
CTW Features
Décor debauchery: creating two chairs from one sofa is economical, if not a bit eccentric, but the principle of punk shui is breaking up your routine… and perhaps your armoire, too. Image courtesy Josh Amatore Hughes
If your idea of home design revolves around consistent patterns and well-placed furniture, Josh Amatore Hughes will tell you you’re wrong. Then he’ll take an electric saw to your well-placed sofa.
Plain Jane, meet Punk Shui.
“I consider [punk shui] non-traditional design,” says Hughes, an art director and designer in New York City, and author of “Punk Shui: Home Design for Anarchists” (Three Rivers Press, 2006). “It’s about having chaos or obstruction to break you out of your daily routine.”
Now that doesn’t mean you have to carve your couch in two – something Hughes has done – it means looking at your surroundings and discovering ways to make your life better by making it more complex. When Hughes consults with clients, he says the big thing is looking at your patterns, what you do in your house and what’s convenient. After that, you start to notice your patterns and can use art and furniture to break them. How you do that is all up to you.
Hughes says specific examples of punk shui don’t explain the aesthetic as well as taking something you have and arranging it in a space or a way you like, one that’s not necessarily functional but aesthetically pleasing.
“It’s not just about living in it. It’s about creating it, too,” Hughes says.
That could be cutting a boot in half to make a flowerpot or hanging a bike from the ceiling. Hughes knows one person who took breaking routine to the extreme by removing his toilet seat and placing it across the room.
“One of the big things about punk shui is it’s really about doing what you want to do and contradicting what you want to do,” Hughes says.
Hughes adds that while he sees punk shui’s popularity among people in their early- to mid-20s, he thinks it really appeals to baby boomers, as well: it’s an opportunity to take a break from their lives and careers, and get back to the arts.
“People are not used to it, it’s a new experience,” Hughes says. “It’s different. To be different in this day and age is pretty exceptional. That’s one of the desired effects.”