Bricolage

This is a term from the arts which means creating a mixed media work out of whatever materials you can find.

However, it’s been expanded to mean assembling something – anything – together from disparate parts.

It’s borrowed from the French bricoler which means “to tinker” or “to putter” and bricoleur which means “jack-of-all-trades.”

Why I Looked It Up

It was the name of a content management system many years ago, though I don’t think it’s still viable. The Wikipedia page has this for etymology.

The name is probably based on the noun bricolage, meaning “Something constructed using whatever was available at the time”.

I can’t remember what brought it to my attention recently. I think I saw a store called “Bricolage” when I was in NYC.