Excerpts from a book by Leonard Koren (“Wabi-Sabi, for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers”, Stone Bridge Press) provide a meaningful (and convenient) design philosophy and support for my work. Koren explains it plainly by contrasting Wabi-Sabi with the modern movement.
Wabi-Sabi,
derived over time from the 15th century tea ceremony in Japan, says that
as things age they become more beautiful. It is organic and eschews any
decoration that is not integral to structure.
WABI-SABI ///////////// MODERNISM
Ostensibly crude ////// Ostensibly slick
Bowl as metaphor ////// Box as metaphor
One-of-a kind ////// Mass produced-modular
Natural materials /////// Manmade materials
Living for the present ////// Living for the future
To everything there is a season ////// Everlasting
Generally dark and dim ////// Generally light and bright
People adapting to nature /////// People adapting to machines
Earthy, imperfect, variegated ////// Polished, smooth, seamless
Fundamental uncontrollability of nature ////// Control of nature
Personal idiosyncratic solutions ////// Universal prototypical solutions
Accommodates degradation and attrition ////// Needs to be well maintained
Corrosion makes its expression richer ////// Purity makes its expression
richer
Comfortable with ambiguity & contradiction ////// Intolerant of ambiguity
& contradiction
