How Marie Kondo Took Over 2019, One Folded Shirt at a Time

This week, we’re celebrating the impact of all things KonMari and the 1-year anniversary of “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” on Netflix. We hope these stories spark joy for you.

It’s hard to remember a time when tidy was just a synonym for clean, no different than neat or organized. It was almost a decade ago, in 2011, when Marie Kondo first published her best-selling debut book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” It was released in the U.S. in 2014, and while the book resulted in a loyal following, a new wave of Kondomania hit when her show “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” debuted on Netflix in Jan. 2019.

The “Tidying Up” TV show introduced the KonMari method, which is rooted in Shinto traditions and Japanese values, to a whole new—and seemingly bigger—audience. The show, in which the organizing expert and best-selling author helps a different family conquer clutter in each episode, was an instant streaming sensation. It shows how the inhabitants, each with different levels of disorganization, tidy up and find joy under Kondo’s tutelage.

“Marie is impossibly optimistic and engaging. It’s hard to avoid getting swept up in her enthusiasm,” says Karin Socci, master KonMari practitioner. “KonMari provides hope. Marie encourages people to consider how they want to live and then gives them a method to move from how things are to how they want things to be. It’s empowering.”

And her television debut was just the beginning of Marie Kondo’s takeover of 2019.

The massive promotion of decluttering and simplifying came at a perfect time: Kondo’s method espouses a more intentional, thoughtful way of life—something that many are seeking out, whether it’s to achieve a more minimalist aesthetic or to eliminate needless waste. “The new openness about disorganization has shown people that they are not alone,” says Socci. “Families have become much more aware of the costs of being disorganized—both the actual costs and emotional costs. Professional organizers have been transforming the lives of families for years, but KonMari brought lots of awareness to the profession and made it more accessible.”

But people weren’t just turning to the show for this decluttering advice: they were also picking up “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” for the first (or second) time, as it resurfaced on the New York Times best sellers list. And a glimpse at popular hashtags on Instagram only further supports her fame: #konmari has 326K posts, #sparkjoy has 301K, and #konmarimethod has 135K. Google offers up more proof: searching KonMari offered up 1 million results at the end of 2018, but by February that jumped to a whopping 10 million

KonMari has shown us first-hand that decluttering comes with mental health benefits, too. About one-third of U.S. consumers say clutter makes them feel “overwhelmed” and about one-quarter say clutter makes them feel “anxious,” according to a poll by Branded Research.

Her method has Shinto roots, a belief system that venerates kami, spirits that are present in humans, nature, and objects. “According to Shinto animism, some inanimate objects could gain a soul after 100 years of service―a concept know as tsukumogami,” Margaret Dilloway writes for HuffPost. “The way Kondo pledges gratitude for the crowded houses she visits, and thanks the clothes and books and lamps that serve so much purpose for the families seeking to declutter their homes, struck me as a powerfully Shinto way of conducting life.”

But as with nearly every phenomenon, it didn’t take long for the backlash to hit: Not everyone found joy in Kondo’s tidying tactics, which was expressed across social media. It began with memes poking fun at the concept of “sparking joy,” which often carried racial undertones and xenophobic language. Twitter user Jonah Ven pointed out the cultural obliviousness: “Memes and criticisms of it are lowkey inherently racist due to ignorance of Asian, specifically Japanese culture and influences.”

The fury grew right on pace with the fanbase. One controversial tweet that went viral implied Kondo thought books qualified as clutter on the show, leading to a bigger Twitter debate from book lovers all over. It stemmed from an episode in her Netflix show, when Kondo advised a woman to part with books she had previously read. Irish Canadian author Anakana Schofield challenged Kondo’s advice on Twitter: “Do NOT listen to Marie Kondo or Konmari in relation to books. Fill your apartment & world with them. … Every human needs a v extensive library not clean, boring shelves.”

But bibliophiles, don’t fret—Marie Kondo does not hate your books. “That’s a complete misconception,” she confirmed to Better Homes & Gardens in an interview. “What’s important is not necessarily quantity, but understanding what quantity works for you.”

Misunderstandings fueled darker criticism. Journalist Barbara Ehrenreich tweeted, then deleted: “I will be convinced that America is not in decline only when our de-cluttering guru Marie Kondo learns to speak English.” Ehrenreich later issued a somewhat convoluted apology over Twitter, explaining that her comments were meant to be taken as a joke.

This string of tweets, and other (mainly white American) dissenters were widely condemned as racist and xenophobic. “I had never seen quite this level of concentrated venom directed toward a self-help/home decor person,” Dilloway writes. She said that Martha Stewart, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Rachel Hollis “all received backlash, but none garnered as much misguided indignation as Kondo, long after she managed to sell two million copies of her debut book.”

“Ever since I saw the backlash against Marie Kondo come out, I’ve been really bothered by what I thought of as deliberate misinterpretations,” Ellen Oh, author and co-founder of We Need Diverse Books, explained in a Bustle article on the book controversy. “At first I was attributing it to the difference in cultures, especially the lack of nuance toward how things can be translated. Asian languages are so different from English. Sometimes things don’t translate well.”

Interestingly, the key phrase “spark joy” is one of them. The word in Japanese is “tokimeku,” and one of our Apartment Therapy commenters mentioned that it was not the most accurate translation. To find the true meaning, we asked Cathy Hirano, the book’s professional translator. She explains that “tokimeku” is another way of saying “your heart beats.” Think of a quickened heart beat in anticipation or when you have a crush on somebody. Feel that about those socks? No? Thank them and let them go.

Despite the criticism Kondo faced, there were plenty of moments of respect and admiration from others. Stephen Colbert sparked joy with Kondo IRL, when she came to KonMari his “Late Show” desk. Kondo brought her strategy and translator Marie Iida to take care of years of desk clutter. Kondo told Colbert to touch each item one by one and see if it sparked joy, starting with a bourbon bottle that he cradled like a small infant. (Kondo also gave him a hilarious lesson on folding a fitted sheet.)

But Colbert’s joy-filled desk was an outlier. For most tidying came with a dirty side: overflowing trash bags. All the items that didn’t spark joy for the new KonMari fans didn’t just miraculously disappear; the widespread clean-up generated piles of trash and tons of plastic waste.

But with all of that waste came a massive surge of charitable donation. Many Goodwill donation centers across the U.S. revealed donations keeping pace with the Netflix show viewership spikes. For example, The Today Show reported that Goodwill stores in various counties across Maryland have seen a 42 percent increase in donations after the show aired in January, while Goodwills in Washington D.C. were up 66% that first week of January. NPR also reported on the surge, which started soon after the Netflix show debuted and continued through the spring-cleaning season.

As her growing fanbase focused on minimizing, Kondo prepared to expand. In March, Kondo met with venture firms to raise up to $40 million for new business opportunities, The Information reported, that included a tidying app and a KonMari summit. Later on in the year, Kondo also cooked up something special for her audience—her younger audience, to be specific. She published “Kiki & Jax: The Life-Changing Magic of Friendship,” a 40-page book written for ages 3 to 7, tells the joy-sparking story of Kiki, a collector, and Jax, a sorter.

 “It’s a timeless story about friendship, and I hope that the characters of Kiki and Jax will inspire children and families to tidy and embrace joy,” Kondo added on Instagram.

To cap off the year of tidying, Kondo debuted an online shop for post-KonMari life filled with hand-picked items that spark joy for her at home in hopes that it will bring the same to others. “Until now, I could only talk about the KonMari method, but now that our online shop is launching, we’re going to be able to provide our fans and KonMari followers all these items to actually use for the method,” Kondo told Apartment Therapy. “We’re going to be offering some items for organizing as well as what you can enjoy and enhance the joy after you’re organized.”

And out came the backlash yet again. The critics found a new rallying cry, calling Kondo a “hypocrite” and comparing her new lifestyle store to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop (pricey crystals included). After helping Netflix viewers empty their homes of clutter, some thought she was now encouraging everyone to fill up the closets again just to bolster Kondo’s bottom line.

Like the earlier misinterpretations, some of the retaliation seems to be rooted in racism. As Vice author Bettina Makalintal put it: she is “a Japanese woman who dares to build a global empire.” Makalintal points out that somehow Paltrow can sell items pulled from Japanese, Ayurvedic, and indigenous tradition, yet there’s an unprecedented uproar when Kondo sets up shop with items from her own culture and based on Shinto practices.

Regardless of the spite, Kondo’s global empire is forging ahead into 2020. Rejoice, tidying isn’t going away, it’s going to the office with a new book “Joy at Work” for “organizing your professional life.” “KonMari says that once you get your home organized, you can begin to the live the life you’ve always wanted, so it makes sense that these concepts can extend to our work life,” says Socci. “After all, many people spend more daytime working than anything else they do, it should be as joyful as possible. KonMari concepts can be applied to not only office clutter, but digital clutter as well.”

Not to mention we’re still waiting for season 2 of “Tidying Up.” New year, new Kondo opportunities.