Bricolage
noun /ˌbrɪk.əˈlɑːʒ/ — Art or construction made from whatever materials are available.
Definition
A creative work assembled from a diverse range of found, repurposed, or available materials — the art of making do with what is at hand. Associated with the idea that meaning can be constructed from fragments.
Beyond the definition
There is something deeply human about bricolage — the impulse to make something beautiful from what others discard. It is the art of the resourceful, the imaginative, the stubborn.
Origin & history
French: from 'bricoler' (to tinker). Popularized philosophically by Claude Lévi-Strauss in 'The Savage Mind' (1962) to describe mythic thought assembling meaning from available cultural fragments.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
His studio looked like chaos but was really a laboratory for bricolage — every found object a potential element.
Punk was bricolage as aesthetic philosophy: safety pins, bin bags, and ripped fabric assembled into identity.
Lévi-Strauss used bricolage to describe how myths are built — not from first principles but from whatever cultural scraps are available.
How to use it
This entry uses a noun. Follow the examples for articles and singular or plural forms; not every noun takes “a” or “an.”
Choose “Bricolage” when the meaning fits your context: A creative work assembled from a diverse range of found, repurposed, or available materials — the art of making do with what is at hand. Associated with the idea that meaning can be constructed from fragments.
Synonyms
assemblage, collage, found art, pastiche
Antonyms
commission, purism
Related words
Bricolage vs assemblage
Bricolage is the act of creating something using whatever materials happen to be at hand. Assemblage is a specific art style of creating three-dimensional works from found objects.
Word in the Wild
See how this word appears in life, language and stories.
Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Collaborative Building Of Model Bridge
Three people work together around a table, using a mix of transparent and wooden pieces to construct a single, supported bridge structure.
Bricolage is the art of assembling a functional whole from available, disparate fragments. This scene demonstrates the process of making do, where the collaboration transforms varied, found pieces into a unified, coherent structure.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration
Questions about this word
What does "Bricolage" mean?
Bricolage is noun meaning: Art or construction made from whatever materials are available.. A creative work assembled from a diverse range of found, repurposed, or available materials — the art of making do with what is at hand. Associated with the idea that meaning can be constructed from fragments.
Where does the word "Bricolage" come from?
French: from 'bricoler' (to tinker). Popularized philosophically by Claude Lévi-Strauss in 'The Savage Mind' (1962) to describe mythic thought assembling meaning from available cultural fragments.