Published : 11/10/2021
After being handled by a professional organiser (known as a 'tidying master' in the Mainland), the cluttered room seems to have been enchanted: the clutter is meticulously managed, the clothes are neatly folded, and the entire room becomes bright and tidy.
With economic development, organisation and keeping tidy as a lifestyle is gradually becoming popular, and professional organisers are emerging as a new industry in response to this trend.
Professional organisers become one of the most popular emerging professions
Cluttered rooms, haphazardly piled clothes, chaotic color combinations...
Under the hands of professional organizers (known as "tidying experts" in mainland China), spaces seem magically transformed: clutter is neatly arranged, garments folded methodically, and entire rooms become bright and spacious. With economic development, organizational tidying has emerged as a modern lifestyle trend, propelling professional organizing into a burgeoning new industry.
Han Yien, 32, is one of the first people in the Mainland to try this profession, and she is the founder of the organisation and storage institution "Yi'en Tidying".
Han Yien graduated from the Law School of Shanghai University of Political Science and Law. She has always enjoyed keeping her home spotlessly clean but never thought of making it a profession.
In 2013, Japanese best-selling books such as "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up" were introduced into the Mainland, which greatly inspired Han Yien. Since then, she, who was originally a legal worker, provided free home tidying services to friends, family, and strangers on social media using evenings and weekends, accumulating a wealth of experience.
At the end of 2015, Han Yien decided to quit her job and become a full-time professional organiser, founding the organisation and storage agency 'Yi'en Tidying', becoming the first person to do so.
Before that, she had already worked with 30-40 clients and had a small reputation in the industry.
Looking back on her initial career, many people didn't understand what she was doing. But today, "Not only households, but also hospitals and government agencies would invite us to tidy up, this concept is now very popular."
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Witness various aspects of life through emerging professions
Through the profession of professional organiser, Han Yien has also witnessed various aspects of life.
She has seen couples who want to divorce and divide their possessions, women who, due to material scarcity in their childhood, buy the same style of clothes over and over again as adults...
In 2017, the Yien team was given a complex case. In a approx 130-square-foot house in Jing'an District, Shanghai, lived a couple in their 70s.
The wife has a severe hoarding habit, and the house is filled with rubbish. Twenty-two organisers spent a whole seven days, cleaning out 58 bags of garbage from the home, as well as two dead mice.
On the 7th day, the organisers could finally open the windows. When a colleague sent photos of the scene to the team's social media group, several assistants couldn't help but cry.
Taking into consideration that the elderly couple have no children, the team ultimately only charged tens of thousands and material fees.
In the six years since its establishment, Yi'en Tidying has trained over a thousand professional organisers in the Mainland.
Among the students learning to organize and tidy, there are kindergarten teachers, housewives, household workers, as well as psychological counselors, designers.
Speaking of the reason for the rising popularity of organising and tidying, Han Yien believes that, firstly, in modern society, whether for individuals or institutions, the number of items is increasing; secondly, it stems from people's need to improve their quality of life.
She said, "A person's room is a mirror of that person's life; a family's house is a mirror of the relationships within the family. And both life and relationships need careful tidying."
She also hopes that her work can influence more and more people with this attitude of 'careful tidying'.