Punk Shui: Home Design for Anarchists

by Josh Amatore Hughes

Saw your sofa in half. Blow up your TV. Celebrate your creativity, because the old rules no longer apply. These are the driving concepts behind the intriguing new movement called punk shui. Here, anti-traditional designer Josh Amatore Hughes explains how our boring lives—especially the dull and obvious ways we arrange our living spaces—stifle creativity. To really break out of our rut, and to really rock, we need to introduce some chaos into our homes. So grab a chainsaw, turn up your stereo, and reinvent your idea of how to live.

Punk shui has no confines—it allows you to go in any direction that strikes a chord. Here are a few

• Block your windows. As a wise man once said, “You can only see light from darkness.”

• Find things that don’t belong on a wall, and hang them. Whether it’s a broken guitar or a three-legged chair, hanging it up makes it art.

• Take down the shower curtain. There’s something freeing about being out in the open, naked, splashing water on the floor.

• Don’t spend a dime. Slash the chains of consumerism!

Whether you look at punk shui as a design concept, a way of life, or just a temporary jolt to your creativity, it’s sure to evict you from your comfort zone—and that’s not a bad thing. Change your design, change your life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Humor

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 25, 2006

Reviews

[Leah Dudley · Rating 1 out of 5]

The tone of this book sounds like someone who comes to every party and bums cigarettes while loudly telling everyone about his current misguided anarchist performance art piece. I cringed through 20 pages and then gave up.

[Zivile · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book with an intention to read something about diy interior design. But it was something from a completely different opera.
The first half of the book was quite...crazy and wild with tips like cutting your sofa in half or make holes in a wall, or in general living in a perpetual mess which would be considered as denying the conventional rules etc. Not so tempting and I can't accept the fact that any dirty messy person is a punk shui fan...
On the other hand, when I moved to the second half of the book that's when the goodness of this book opened up.
The author approached many different topics of life with interesting and liberating suggestions how to change or alter it. And that's why I give four starts to this book (and take one away because of lack of good taste in design).
I got this book from a library and it was so used and abused. Like a real messy punk shuist book. But I noticed that the second part of the book is very clean and tidy, probably nobody had a nerve to finish the book, and sadly, never reached the good part. I understand those people, I had that feeling of quitting this book so many times but I am glad I finished it. I won't become a punk shuist but I will definitely change some aspects of my lifestyle :)

[Cem · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK fair enough, we should control our surroundings and break out of the conformist cliches that govern our domestic lives and so on and so on... But pray tell, how in the hell is my daughter going to manage with a melted chair hanging from the wall, or a gigantic statue in the middle of the living room? Joke aside this book is an entertaining attempt at alternative home furnishing though I would hasten to say I am not going to go and rip my sofa into half with a chainsaw, no matter how punk it may sound and look. On the other hand, as someone who likes order in the house that I live in, I do not like the way the author just dumps everyone who doesn't like chaos in their homes as conformist and boring, and puts every slob into the box of cool and punk...

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is this book a joke, or just a really good scam? I'm just not sure.

Either way, good for Josh Amatore Hughes, who got a book deal out of decorating for punks.

Or maybe (could it be possible?) this book is serious. If the author is serious, that's weirder than getting a book deal out of a scam or a joke.

In any case, I found this book in the dumpster behind a thrift store. I don't know why it was in the dumpster. It was in perfect condition. I read it and then gave it away.

I do totally agree with the idea that people don't need interior designers to tell them how their homes should look or what colors are in. We should all just fix up our living spaces in ways that make each of us happy.

[catechism · Rating 2 out of 5]

VERY hit-or-miss. The first few chapters were about, I don't know, like fighting the power, man, and thinking outside the box. As for the design tips, probably I will not be shooting my furniture with a shotgun any time soon, but other things I can see myself incorporating at some point. (Actually, I started reading this before I moved and in fact DID incorporate some of it; I just never finished it because see above re: kind of stupid.)

[Tomson Jane Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite entertaining, but preaches a little too much to the choir for my tastes. While I may have a few philosopical bones to pick, this book makes enough useful points (about tearing away consumerist pre-conceptions in order to truly tap into personal creativity) so that I actually recommend it as a worthy read.

[Outi S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

If it gives you good vibrations that you turn your telly upside down and watch it like that, read this. Been there, seen this. Boring.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't exactly change my life and I wouldn't go and hack my couch to pieces, but still amusing to read.

[Artem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Панкшуй ради паншуйя. Разрушение ради разрушение, а не ради контр культуры. Глупая книга.

[Heather]

I like the idea of punk shui but too bad the author is a hipster d-bag. Punk is all about being original - it shouldn't come from a handbook and it shouldn't mean trashing your home.