It’s a common misconception that minimalism must be cutting edge contemporary or modern in the mid-century modernism sense. *Note: modern and modernism are different; another common misconception.

And, for the most part, it’s true enough. The major old-timey throwback styles like steampunk or dieselpunk are based on very decorative cultures, being it Victorian or Industrial Chicago (of course, being broad genres, that’s certainly not limited to). I find them cool, sure, and I draw a lot of inspiration from them and I do love them, but often they are incredibly gaudy and the minimalist in me is less than thrilled with that.

But it doesn’t have to be this way, and while there aren’t entire cultures devoted to it, there are a lot of fantastic things that are both rustic and minimalist. You could say, actually, that a lot of the hipster things these days fall into this category. Perhaps there is a culture devoted to it after all.

Above photo: the iVictrola. Basically an acoustic amplifier (not powered, it channels the ipad’s speaker) made with a block of wood and a metal tube.

The Fan and the Phonograph’s images look surprisingly similar. I couldn’t find any information linking them, but they’re both featured on Uncrate, so I wonder if it’s something they do themselves.

Look! More awesome posts:

1. Modern Drift – Efterklang
2. Minimalism
3. Robert Venturi Architecture