Many of you enjoyed yesterday’s post about Japanese shop Fog. If you a drawn to Japanese design you might want to read more about the Japanese philosophy Wabi Sabi. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” (according to Leonard Koren in his book Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers).
The translation of wabi is “lonely”, in current usage it means: “a taste for the simple and the quiet” and incorporates rustic beauty, such as patterns found in straw, bamboo, clay, or stone. It refers to both that which is made by nature and that which is made by man. Sabi refers to the patina of age, the concept that changes due to use may make an object more beautiful and valuable. This incorporates an appreciation of the cycles of life and careful, artful mending of damage. Emma recently had a great post about wabi sabi on her blog, which you can read here.
(images from Skona Hem)
Yes, exactly! Thanks, I’m not a student of design and didn’t know this had a name. I love it.
That last photo is so pretty, it kills me.
That last photo is so pretty!