EP83 Umwelt: Why Your Home Doesn’t Feel Like You Yet

Have you ever walked into a space and felt instantly calm… while someone else feels completely unsettled?

In this episode, I’m introducing you to a concept I’ve recently discovered called Umwelt, and I think it will completely reframe how we think about our homes.

I came across the German word, Umwelt in my recent research, and it piqued my interest. I've come across so many different words over the years, in terms of interiors and design, from Danish Hygge to Swedish Legom, to Dutch gezelligheid, to Japanese Ikigai and Wabisabi - all these beautiful words come from all these beautiful different cultures, and what they all point to really, is the same concept of our homes being not just visual, they are emotional, sensory, and deeply personal spaces.

The concept of Umwelt comes from a biologist called Jakob von Uexküll, who was fascinated by how different animals, like elephants, bats, dogs and even insects, each experience the world in their own unique way. And I think this is also so relevant when it comes to our homes, because our senses are experiencing our homes and the spaces around us, whether we are conscious of it or not.

Umwelt is a German word with no direct English translation, but at its core, it describes something quite powerful, the unique way each of us experiences the world around us. 
We don’t experience our homes or our surroundings as they are. We experience them as we are.

I think the concept of Umwelt connects so beautifully back to home, and back to these deeper conversations I'm starting to have about what home means to us and our sense of home and belonging, and how we experience what is around us.

Come and join me inside this episode to explore this more, I chat about how your personality, your past, your sensory preferences, and even your daily habits shape how your home feels to you.

Inside This Episode
How Umwelt shows up in real homes
Hidden factors shaping how we perceive our space (light, clutter, layout & more)
How to design for your Umwelt

Resources & Mentions

Episode 1: Common Renovation Regrets & Concerns
Episode 2: What is a Successful Home Renovation?
Episode 9: Dreaming

Loved This Episode?

If you found this helpful, I’d be so grateful if you left a review on Apple, YouTube or Spotify, or even shared it with a friend who’s renovating, or just wants to create a better home.

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Hi, I’m Tash South — interior designer, renovation consultant, and founder of South Place Studio.

In this podcast, I share practical renovation advice, along with deeper insights into home and belonging.

If you’d like more resources and support, head to:
https://www.southplacestudio.com/freebies

If you’re navigating your own renovation, my RenoVersity programme offers a structured, guided and thoughtful approach to renovating with clarity, confidence and intention https://www.southplacestudio.com/renoversity

Or if you want to get social, you can find us here:
Instagram: @southplacestudio
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/south-place-studio
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/southplacestudio

Transcript

Welcome And A New Design Word

Tash South 0:00

Hi everyone, Tash here, and welcome back. As always, I'm so glad you're here. I know there's so much out there, there's so much content kept competing for your attention all the time, and so I really appreciate that you have chosen to be here today to spend a bit of time with me, and in return, I really hope I can offer you something valuable because today's episode is one I've been really looking forward to sharing. It's actually so rare these days with information overload and the hundreds of hours that I spend researching for topic ideas for this podcast and everything else that I do in terms of writing and design. So it's actually really rare where I come across a fresh concept that I feel I can link back to homes and interiors. But in my research lately, and just listening to loads of podcasts myself, I came across this word, I heard this word called Umwelt, and it really kind of piqued my interest. So I did some research into the word. So umwelt is a German word actually, and it is spelt um e l t and pronounced umwelt. I've come across so many different words over the years, I'm sure you have as well, in terms of interiors and design, from Danish Hooger to Swedish Legombe to Dutch Kesalekate to Japanese Ikigai and Wabisabi. So all these beautiful words come from all these beautiful different cultures, and what they all really point to really is the same thing is that our homes are not just visual, they're not just about what they look like, they are emotional, sensory, and deeply personal spaces. And so when I came across this word umwelt and I started doing my research, I actually found out that it's a German word, like I said, and it literally means the world around you. But what it really refers to is your own experience of that world. So it's our own experiences of our world and our surroundings. And so I just thought that really connects so beautifully back to home and back to these deeper conversations I'm starting to have about what home means to us, our sense of home, our sense of belonging, and how we experience the space around us. So the concept of Umwelt actually comes from a biologist called Jacob van Ixkill, and I hope you appreciate my pronunciation there. To any other South African listeners, that's where our Afrikaans sometimes comes in useful when we have to pronounce German and Dutch words. But um, anyway, back to the topic. So this biologist was fascinated by how different creatures, like um mainly animals, like bats, dogs, insects, how they each experience the world in their own unique way. And I think this is also so relevant when it comes to our homes because we are experiencing our homes and the spaces around us, whether we are conscious of it or not. And when I've researched the word and the concept even further, I found out that there's actually not really a direct English word for it, so there's no direct English translation for the word, but it's essentially just about how each of us experiences the world differently in our own way. And the closest English word or concepts I could find or relate to it would be the word perception, but that's almost too general. Another translation you could kind of use is sensory world. It's a little bit closer, but it's still not quite right, it still doesn't explain the concept of umwelt completely. What umwelt does in one word is how our senses and our brain, our emotions and our past experiences all combine to shape how we experience a space. And it's how every living being experiences the world differently based on their senses and their brain and their lived experience. So, for example, if we go back to the animals, an elephant would experience the world through vibrations in the ground, and a dog experiences the world through smell, and then there's us humans. We think we are experiencing space objectively, but we're not really, we're experiencing it through the light, through memory, through emotion, and everything we've really lived through before. It's kind of navigating in a way that we can't even really perceive. And I think this is really quite relevant when it comes to our homes as well, because we don't actually see our homes as they are, we see them as we are. What I mean by that is that two people can walk into the exact same space, the exact same room, same layout, same light, same furniture, and have completely different reactions to it. One person might feel calm and grounded and at ease in that space, and another might feel unsettled or overwhelmed, like something's just not quite right. And that's because the way we experience space isn't neutral. It is shaped by who we are, it's shaped by our personality, whether we naturally like things quite minimal and calm, it's shaped by our upbringing, the homes we grew up in, what we grew up around, what felt normal, what felt safe, what didn't. It's shaped by our culture, what we associate with comfort and beauty, with home, and even our sensory preferences, how sensitive we are to light, to noise, to visual clutter, all of that plays into how a space feels for us personally. So when you're standing in your home thinking, why doesn't this feel quite right? It's generally not only just about the layout or the furniture, it's how you are personally experiencing that space. And I think once we all understand that about ourselves, we can start to realize that designing our homes isn't just about copying what looks good from Pinterest board or an image on Instagram, it's about really understanding what feels good to us. So a few more examples here is two people walking into the same room. Let's say it's a big open plan, bright space. One person might feel light and feel like the space is expansive and calm and safe, whereas another person might feel quite exposed in such an open space. And then if we flip that, if we walk into a darker room, perhaps that has more object in it, more clutter, one person might feel like that is cozy and cocooning, and another person might feel like it is a bit dark and cramped and claustrophobic. So we really need to examine within ourselves what we prefer and how we want our homes to feel. Why does one room feel one way to one person and different to us? It might be the same size and it might feel calm to one person and chaotic to another. All of that is umwelt in action. So your home might look good on paper, but your perception of space is what actually determines how it feels to live in. And I do talk about this a lot on the podcast as well. I always talk about how our homes are not always just about what they look like. It's about making it that sanctuary for ourselves, realizing that it can have an emotional impact on us. It's about how we bring light into our homes and how that can affect our moods. It's about how clutter affects our mental load. So in this episode, I wanted to explore more how Umval plays out in our own homes and how we can design for our own experience of home our own versions of light, our rhythms, our way of living, and how we can use this concept to start designing better homes for ourselves. Okay, so in this episode, I want to cover a few things. I want to talk about number one, how Umval shows up in real homes. Number two, hidden factors shaping how we perceive our space. And then number three, mistakes we make when we're renovating. And then number four, I want to give you some practical takeaways on how you can design your home using Umval. Okay, let's start with number one. So, how Umval shows up in real homes. So, here I just wanted to quickly talk about how our homes not quite being how we want it to be affects us daily. So, I want to talk about how our homes have a nervous system, and we can we can feel we can feel the energy around us. It's that invisible weight of your home and why perhaps you feel like it's exhausting you. And I think this really comes down to it not feeling quite right in many different ways, which we'll cover a bit more in number two, the hidden factors shaping how we perceive our space. But our homes do carry this invisible weight. Our brains are constantly processing what is around us, whether we realize it or not. So that crowded countertop that's got loads of clutter on it, that pile of clothes in the corner that you've been meaning to take to the charity shop, that piece of furniture that you're constantly bumping into because it's not quite in the right place. All of these things combined daily really add up and add to that invisible weight and that frustration I find that so many people have with their homes. When I go in and see potential clients, I mean this comes up so much. Almost every single person I go and see for a consultation, they are finding that they want to change their home, they want to renovate their home because it is frustrating to them in a way. It is causing them stress that they don't want in their lives, and they want to have that fixed so they can just get on with their daily lives and live a much more easier, smooth life in their homes. So let's get on to those hidden factors shaping how we perceive our space now. Number two. So the first one that I always talk about is light. So we talked about how different people can perceive different rooms. So some one person might experience a dark room as cocooned and cozy, whereas another feels like it's just too claustrophobic for them. So I would say, look at your home. Are there areas that you're finding too dark? Also think about how you're going to use those rooms. The use of the room sometimes will just naturally determine the light needed in that room and also the location of the room within the home. So taking those two things into consideration together. Let's, for example, take a TV room, a room, a family room where you'll be mostly relaxing in the evenings, watching a TV or a film with your family, perhaps. So that is a room that doesn't necessarily need lots of light. It's somewhere you're you retreat to and you perhaps want to feel cozy. You want that feeling of coziness and cocooning. So think about that in terms of your home itself and where the sun comes in, how the light moves around the home, but also in the terms of the use of the room. Whereas on the other side of that scale, you might want to have a really light, bright kitchen. So think about where you want to place that room in the home so that you can have light coming in in the mornings while you're getting ready and making your breakfast and making your coffee. So really think about those two things together: the use of the room, the light in the room, how that makes you feel. Do you want the light or do you not want the light? And then that can start to determine your home layout and your home design. And then the next thing I always talk about, also under this The Hidden Factors topic, is that clutter and visual overload. Um, I've talked about this topic quite a lot. It is something that if you've been listening for a while, you know I struggle with myself, is I don't have a really high tolerance for clutter in the home. And so I like to have clear surfaces and good storage, and I think actually lots of people are that way, whether they realize it or not, sometimes I find that a lot of people, even though they think they have a high tolerance for clutter and have lots of objects around. Sometimes, and I'm not saying always, some people just can manage just fine with lots of clutter around. But I do think sometimes when I go into a home and solve that problem with storage, with good planning, with good design, to reduce that clutter, the occupants of a home really feel that difference, and so I think don't take that for granted that you think you can manage a lot of clutter because your brain is processing every single object whether you realize it or not. Um, it's thinking about why is that object there? Is it another thing to do? Do I need to move it? Is it something I need to fix? Is it something I need to take into another room? So that cognitive overwhelm really affects us as humans, and like I keep saying, not we don't always realize it. The next thing under the hidden factors I want to talk about is flow and layouts. So this is really about moving through our homes with ease. As humans, that is what we want. We want to be able to move freely. We don't like to feel claustrophobic, we don't like to feel trapped, we don't like to feel like something's in our way when we're trying to get from one area to the next. And so I think this goes right back to planning, which I've talked about so much as well on the podcast. Is when you're starting your renovation, go right back to your floor plan. It might be your estate agent's floor plan, and play around with that for yourself. I always say, don't always leave it to an architect to determine where your rooms should go. You really need to investigate for yourself this exact concept we're talking about today, this um about how we want to fill in a space, how we want to perceive the space, how it makes us feel, what what is in it, the light, the darkness, the clutter, all of those will come from going all the way back to your layout and planning really well at layout stage. Thinking about where the dark areas are, where the light areas are, thinking about how you live your life in the mornings. When you wake up, which room do you go to? What is an obvious and natural flow for you and your family unit to be able to use your home? Because we all are experiencing our spaces quite differently. Like I said, open planned space has been so popular for so long, and I love it, but someone else they don't. They want separated spaces, they want coziness, they perhaps want division or more privacy. For one person, that feels really free and light and open, like for me, but another person might feel really exposed by that. So, really think about how you feel in a space and how you want to feel after you've spent all that time and all that money renovating. And then the last one under hidden factors is personal meaning, which I have been talking more and more about on the podcast as well. It's not just about the practical, it's about what it really means to you as well. So, whether that might be objects in your home, heirlooms, colours, um, items from your heritage, any kind of materials or objects tied to your your own memory, your own childhood. So, this is where we really really start to make our homes really personal to us and where we can really feel that sense of it being our home and where we feel like we belong in our spaces, is by introducing this personal meaning into our homes. Okay, moving on, let's talk about number three some mistakes people make when renovating. So, here again, I just wanted to touch on that point of making our homes for us. Our home is not just bricks and mortar, it's really an emotional infrastructure when we think about it. It affects how we are and how we live and what we do, our productivity, our habits so much, and so it's a really, really important thing to get right. And I think when people are renovating, they're making that mistake of looking at Pinterest boards and Instagram and magazines, which are all extremely useful in a way, but you also really have to dig deep and really discover what you want from your home and what makes you feel a certain way, and what makes you feel grounded and feel like you belong, and makes your life easier, and makes your habits easier within your home because it's so easy to just fall into trends and make your home look pretty, and then spend loads of time and money on it, and realize when you're finally living there that it's not quite right, it's not quite working for you. So, I really want to encourage you to go back to your floor plan, really make a list of what you want from your home in terms of light and storage and how you want to feel. Renovating is something that people don't really do that often. I mean, I've done it so many times now, but you know, that's that's my work, and I've enjoyed doing it in homes that I've lived in as well. But I think you know, I'm kind of totting up to about 20 renovations now, as well as a um a complete house build from scratch, and so I do know that you need to really interrogate what you want from your space before you just crack on and and go all in. So take the time, don't make that same mistake people do in renovating, where they just pick something pretty and go with the architect's interpretation of how they should use the space and then end up spending tens and tens and tens of thousands of pounds, sometimes hundreds of thousands. So, really plan at the beginning and take some time to investigate what you want. And if you go back to some of the earlier episodes of this podcast, there are loads of episodes there that can help you do that. They'll help guide you through really trying to discover what you want and what you need from your home. You could go right back to episode one, which is called Common Renovation Regrets and Concerns. You could go and listen to that one, you could listen to episode two, what is a successful home renovation. Another great one that will help you discover what you really want is episode nine. It's called Dreaming. It's all about this phase of really just taking a moment and thinking about what you really want and what you really need from your home. That's just a few of them. But if you go back through the episodes, you'll see there are so many that will help you think about it, plan it, think about your layout, plan your layout. So do go back to those and have a listen. Okay, moving on to the next one, which is number four. How we can design for our own Umwelt. I wanted to give you some practical takeaways because once you understand the idea that we all experience our homes differently, then the next question really becomes like, how do we actually design for our experience in our home? And again, this is where I really want to encourage you to just slow things down a little bit, especially at the start, and just start noticing a few things. When you're in your home as it currently is, just be really aware and start asking yourself some questions. Like, when do I feel most calm? Is it a particular spot in the home? Is it by a window? Um, in the light reading, is it when I'm in the cozy room in the evening watching a film? Is it a particular chair in a particular room? And also think about you know the acoustics. Are you feeling best when the house is quiet, or do you prefer when there's some background noise and some buzz with your family or your kids around you? All of these feelings and noticing these things will give you those clues as to what's in your environment that's that's working for you and not against you. All those things that you like and you don't mind having in your home, or you want to include in your home, but it more importantly, it will also give you an idea of what you don't want to include in your home, which is going to be absolute gold when you come to planning your renovation from the start. You will know what you do want, and very importantly, you will know what you don't want, and you can start with that. So, here's just a few questions you can ask yourself when you're kind of walking around your home, and I would say, even if you're in someone else's home. And you notice that you feel different, you you perhaps feel more relaxed, or you feel a little bit more stressed, maybe. That will give you clues as to what to include and what not to include in your own home. But just think about it, notice it. Notice your relationship with light. Do you feel better in a bright open sun-filled space? Or do you prefer something a bit softer or a bit more cocooned? Also, going back to that clutter threshold. Think about your tolerance for it, your tolerance for visual clutter. I mean, some people feel completely at ease surrounded by lots of objects and layers and books and textures, and others, myself included, like I said, start to feel overwhelmed really quickly when there's too much stuff around. So notice that tolerance, and that will then also help you determine how much storage you might need to include in your layout plan. And think about your storage from the start at your layout stage. Think about where there are little nooks and corners and where you could block off or close up to create a wardrobe or some floor-to-ceiling storage or some floor-to-ceiling shelves. All of those things at layout stage, when you're looking at your floor plans and thinking about your storage at that stage, is going to be so valuable as well. Also think about openness versus enclosure, and then there's the space itself. Do you feel better in that open plan flowing space? Or do you prefer defined rooms where every room and every thing and every function has its place? Some people feel free in that openness, and some people just don't like it, and that they might not even know why. It could be down to something they'd experienced in childhood, or perhaps there something about their own house or home as a child that they didn't like. It really can come down to so many reasons. Um, you know, childhood, memory, trauma, all of these things influence how we feel in a space. So don't just plan your house on paper and move forwards without thinking about these things. I really just wanted to encourage you in this episode to think about how we are perceiving our spaces and how our environments affect us every single day. So observe your natural behavior, observe where you go in your home, where do you sit without even thinking about it? Where do you end up when you want to relax? Where do you have your coffee in the morning? All of these little patterns can tell you so, so much about how you can improve your home. Because when you start to notice these things, you start to build that picture of what your home actually needs to feel good, and that's when your renovation decisions become much clearer. Because you're no longer designing based on what you think you should want, you're designing based on what actually supports you. And really, that to me is where a home really starts to feel like your own. It's when it's shaped around your experience of it, not just how it looks on the outside. That is where I should end off, everybody, because that to me is where a home really starts to feel like your own, where it supports you, where it's shaped around your experience of it, not just what it looks like, but how it is there for you every single day to serve as that framework, as that support, as that kind of base and that background to everything that you need to deal with in your daily life. And I mean, who knows? We are dealing with so much at the moment as a society, as a world, individually, as communities. There is a lot going on. So, to me, our homes need to work even harder than they ever have before, and this is just one more way that I hope I can encourage you to make your home do that for you. But that brings us to the end of this episode. Thank you once again for being here with me today. I hope you found it valuable, and I hope that you were just as intrigued as I was by discovering what Umwelt meant and having a little bit more insight into it. But that is it from me today. I will see you in a couple of weeks' time. It's bye for now.