The More you Knoll…
How and when did the Instagram Flat Lay Trend Begin?
Have you seen the group sales on Instagram where shops post a beautiful photo taken from a bird’s eye view of carefully arranged vintage objects? I do it myself as part of a collaborative hashtag event. Shoppers can click on a hashtag and head to a feed filled with every single variety of vintage at their fingertips. Maybe you’ve even seen some of my posts! I’ve always wondered where this concept originated so I did a deep dive. I was shocked when I learned this trend actually had a defining moment and the movement has been around for over 30 years. It all started in the 80’s in England with a little thing called “knolling.”
The beginning of the flat lay takes us to 1987 in England in a furniture store called Frank Gehry’s. A janitor by the name of Andrew Kromelow would collect the tools left at the end of the day and arrange them in right angles. He would take an overheard photo of each arrangement. He cited the current angular furniture projects by brand Knoll to be his inspiration and coined a term for it “knolling.”
In 2009, an artist by the name of Tom Sach’s was further inspired and began to base works off this style as well. His moto?
“Always be knolling”
As the years went on more photographers and artists began to use the technique. The organizational aspect to the way items were arranged gained favor with bloggers and magazines who specialized in order. In the late 2000’s the trend caught on for wedding photographers who lovingly arranged invitations, shoes and the blissful couple’s wedding rings.
By the mid 2010’s, knolling found it’s forever home. Instagram. Bloggers and brands realized just how pleasing knolling was to the eye. But there was a shift in the verbiage and these photos were now referred to as Flat Lays. There is an entire account based on these flat lays with over 200k followers that began in 2013. They have photos of everything from beauty products, artisan goods, foods to vintage treasures!
In today’s world knolling is popular choice for marketing everything from beauty products, artisan goods to vintage treasures. I love to use it to photograph my own collections of vintage home décor. But I’m thinking we should bring back the original term, don’t you? It has such a fun ring to it!
~Join me on Instagram every Saturday for a curated knoll of fine vintage and antique treasures and subscribe to the newsletter to be the first to know about all things Finches and Ferns! @finchesandferns
