About
LifeEdited shows how to design your life to include more money, health and happiness with less stuff, space and energy. It’s life. Edited.
Since 1950, the average American consumes 6 times more energy and carries 24 times more personal debt. He uses 3 times more living space, but still doesn’t have enough room to store his stuff, a fact made clear by a $22B personal storage industry. Despite this excess (or perhaps because of it), we find ourselves no happier than we were 60 years ago. Most of us realize it’s relationships and experiences–not possessions–that make us happy. Why don’t we design our homes, products and lifestyles accordingly?
LifeEdited is answering those questions directly. It started in 2009 when Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger.com, launched a competition to design his compact New York City apartment, making it into a living embodiment of the ‘edited’ lifestyle. Following Hill’s popular TED talk about the apartment, he realized he wasn’t the only one craving a better, simpler life. Committed to making this lifestyle available to all, LifeEdited became a company and is now building homes, consulting, showcasing products and giving tips that show how we can all have more time, money and happiness with less stuff, space and waste.
How We Started, Where We Are Going
In 2009, Graham Hill purchased two apartments in New York City with the express purpose of showing that people could have everything they need using less (and better) stuff and space. He had big dreams for the small spaces: dinner parties for 12, accommodations for 2 overnight guests, a home office, a home theater with digital projector and, befitting his background, it had to have very clean air and be built in an environmentally responsible manner.
To make this dream a reality, the web-savvy Mr. Hill called on the crowd-sourcing platform Jovoto and marketing firm Mutopo to launch a competition to design the first space (dubbed LifeEdited 1, or LE1). He rounded up celebrity judges like “4 Hour Work Week” author Tim Ferriss, eco-celeb David DeRothschild and designer Yves Behar.
The response was amazing, with over 300 entries submitted from all over the world. The winning design came from two Romanian architecture students named Catalin Sandu and Adrian Iancu. Their elegant, jewel-box design, entitled “One Size Fits All,” met all of Mr. Hill’s requirements and brought purpose and intention to every one of the apartment’s 420 square feet.
Brooklyn-based architectural and design firm Guerin Glass Architecture was responsible for building out the gutted space. The project incorporated transforming furniture from Resource Furniture and sustainably-sourced building materials from Green Depot. The space had to be both smart and healthy, as indoor air is typically 2-5 times more polluted than outdoor air.
Besides being Mr. Hill’s residence, LE1 is a template for future building projects. A follow up apartment (LE2) is planned in the same building. At 350 square-feet, LE2 will be the “bachelor/bachelorette pad.” The company is in discussion about making multi-story, mixed use buildings truly exploit LifeEdited principles, utilizing sharing systems, common spaces and things like bookable guest rooms. We also offer consulting services, making spaces for people who want a LifeEdited apartment now.
We live in an amazing world where almost anything seems possible. But in a certain way, we—particularly Americans—have gone too far. We have so many options and opportunities, rarely do we ask, “do I really need this” or “will this improve my life or make it more complicated?”
At LifeEdited, we see a new future, one where spaces and products are designed around the things that are important to people, and the things that are not important are “edited” out.
