Small Stuff for Small City Apartments

Photo by Gunter Binsack/Courtesy of Tojo.

Close quarters call for minimalism, and living in high-density cities often necessitates the ownership not just of less, but of smaller scaled, stuff. This isn't always easy: Most stuff isn't made with cities in mind. Appliances like washing machines have grown increasingly massive, capable of washing the dirty socks of a family of 12. Even dinner plates have gotten wider over the years (back in the 1960s, they measured 8-1/2 inches; they've now stretched to a full foot in diameter) making shelving stuff a tight squeeze (and alas, making it far too easy to pile more food on one's plate). And at the Consumer Electronic's Show earlier this year, Panasonic unveiled a comically massive 152-inch 3-D plasma TV—yours for a cool half a million (not including monthly utility bill).