Life

Thank God Marie Kondo Started Selling Office Organizing Products Literally This Week

KonMari's New Office Supply Collection
Courtesy of KonMari

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It’s been 12 days of working from home while practicing social distancing, and I can’t stop staring at the tangle of wires underneath the credenza in my living room. What do these wires do? Where did they come from? Why do they insist on snaking, Medusa-like, onto the rug that, when I look at it closer, could really use a deep cleaning once all of this is over?

In Marie Kondo’s 2014 book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, the decluttering expert advised throwing out any wires you don’t have a purpose for, since they’re more likely to spark fires than joy. In 2020, the quietly launched office accessory category on the KonMari site suggests that, instead, we hide our errant cables in a sleek, Japanese-designed “Digital Tidying Box” ($35).

*Record scratch*. Wait — Marie Kondo sells office stuff now?

Yes, according to a joy-sparking press release that popped into my inbox this morning. Now more than ever, the release reads, it’s critical that we hone in on what brings us joy at work and home, especially since for many right now, those are one and the same. The launch of the office category, a collection of supplies that fit Kondo's aesthetic, on the KonMari online shop comes just ahead of the April 7 release of Kondo’s new book (new book??), Joy at Work.

The Marie-curated collection includes a wooden zen egg ($40), gold-plated office scissors ($25) that only kind of remind me of the shears the Tethered from Us use, and a ceramic travel bowl ($40) described as “the end of sad desk lunches,” which would be great if I had a desk right now. There are also extremely soothing leather and wool organizing trays ($68) and a brass cookbook stand ($58). The products in this new category will be added onto the site by April 7.

“OMG,” writes a friend who I forwarded this email to, “I suddenly must have all these things.”

I realize it’s a privilege to get to ooh and aah over beautiful office supplies at a time like this. Still, I’m grateful to have something shiny to look at, something that suggests calm, a better balance with my time spent not working, and the promise that I will one day get back to my regular desk.