WABI-SABI
INTERIOR DESIGN
There’s beauty even in imperfections, and that’s what wabi-sabi means. The concept of wabi-sabi finds its roots in old Japanese traditions. It embodies the true spirit of Japanese design, lifestyle, philosophy, art, culture, and personal feelings, all in one.
If you visit Japan, you’ll notice that the people and the culture appreciate the innate beauty of animate and inanimate objects – from broken crockery to molding furniture, and misty landscapes to distorted reflections of nature on the water.
In this respect, the idea of wabi-sabi involves the understanding that each thing on this planet, whether living or not, ages with grace, and becomes more beautiful as it breaks, fades, or scars. It is the understanding that old and worn-out things have their own elegant charm.
ORIGIN OF THE
WABI-SABI
AESTHETIC
While wabi-sabi is a Japanese philosophy, it comes from traditional Chinese Zen Buddhist culture. Some can even trace the origin of its story back to a 16th-century Japanese legend that involved Sen no Rikyu, the monk that played a hand in theorizing tea ceremonies.
According to the legend, the monk wanted to learn the ancestral art of tea ceremonies, in the process of which his tea master also asked that he look after the garden. Just before presenting his master with his work, Rikyu shook a cherry tree in the garden, such that its sakura flowers fell to adorn the ground – and this imperfection of the fallen flowers brought so much beauty to its surroundings, that it gave birth to the concept of wabi-sabi.
The ‘enso’ symbol is used to depict the concept, which comprises an unfinished circle created as part of an infinite stroke or motion, typically made using black ink.
CONCEPTS OF WABI-SABI
Aesthetic
As a Japanese aesthetic, wabi-sabi has a sharp influence on modern life as it corresponds to the beauty that lies in humility, austerity, and the ephemeralness of life.
Imperfect
According to the Buddhist idea of Dukkha, life is fundamentally painful and unsatisfactory. The symbol for wabi-sabi also depicts life as rusty and lonely. In light of this, the idea behind adopting wabi-sabi is to embrace the imperfections of the things around us.
Objects made using the wabi-sabi aesthetic are therefore asymmetrical and are replete with imperfections. Feel free to use asymmetrical furniture or objects that may be mismatched around the home.
World View
Wabi-sabi adopts the idea that things are imperfect, that nothing is permanent, and that’s the idea one should ideally view the world with.
Transient
The presence of green leaves in your home is enough to boost its overall aesthetic. Try keeping plants on your windowsill, or add to the greenery in your balcony by adding small houseplants like a rubber tree, prayer plant, a fiddle-leaf fig, ficus, or hoya. Indoor trees and indoor plants add to the overall bloom scape and give your home a beautiful, welcoming vibe.
Refined
While wabi-sabi may be born out of imperfections, the aesthetic is not easy to master. Nothing with imperfections can be considered wabi-sabi; the term is used sparingly to describe objects that emit the highest ideal of beauty – in other words, something that can be considered both pleasing and imperfect.
