IN SEARCH OF WABI-SABI by Lara Pereira

in search of wabi-sabi 侘寂

contents

• intro • wabi-cha & ceramics • art movements • textiles – the art of boro • wabi interiors • bring wabi-sabi into your life • my own practice • bibliography • photo credits

intro Wabi is said to be defined as “rustic simplicity” or “understated elegance” with a focus on a less-is-more mentality. Wabi-Sabi is the beauty in imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness. Its philosophy helps humans understand the nature of existence, spirituality, well-being and ethics. This mentality provides a formula to bring the spiritual element of consciousness to the material and aesthetic world.

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The concept of Wabi-Sabi was born in Japan, a country forced to deal with devastating natural disasters, consequently, the idea of acceptance became especially important. Rather than rejecting nature and seeing it as a destructive and dangerous force, they see it as the most important source of beauty and it should be appreciated on the smallest of levels. Nature’s ephemeral beauty is extremely admired and celebrated in festivals such as the cherry-blossom viewing, moon-viewing and snow-viewing. While these fleeting experiences may bring some melancholy, its only lesson is to enjoy the moments as they come, without expectations. 5

The concept of Wabi-sabi is deeply intrinsic in Japanese culture, but for a foreigner it can be hard to understand in the beginning. Although the origin of the word is ancient and Japanese, I believe the concept belongs to everyone and is especially relevant to the world today- a world faced with loss of confidence and loss of direction. Especially in Western culture there is this obsession with perfection, flawlessness, infallibility and unachievable standards. In Taoist philosophy, since no further growth or development can take place, perfection is considered equivalent to death. Wabi-sabi is everything that today’s polished, mass-produced, technology-saturated culture isn’t. Part of the Wabi-Sabi approach is training ourselves to appreciate the simplest things in life and using them to activate our senses. Wabi-Sabi is about the acceptance that everything in life is transient- our bodies, nature, the material world- all things are going through a cycle of growth, decay, erosion. 6

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Wabi-Sabi is a state of mindfulness, living in the now and finding satisfaction in our lives even when it’s so easy to fall into the trap of thinking the opposite. It’s also about the acceptance that we are imperfect, mortal and incomplete. Unfortunately, the world is getting sicker and so are we, radical actions need to be taken in order to turn things around. Wabi-Sabi is the proof that not only technology and future innovations can save the world, this ancient philosophy could bring true change to people’s mindsets. “The shiny white layer (of products) has come to stand for the dirty reality underneath it: waste, pollution, exploitation on nature and people, faulty designs and bad quality mechanics, cheap materials, planned obsolescence, scarcity, marketing budgets and monopolies”. (Marjanne Van Helvert, Dirty Design.) 9

wabi-cha and ceramics

In 1488 in Kyoto, a monk called Murata Jukō decided to redefine the way of tea drinking. He created a document, known as Kokoro no fumi (The letter of the heart), in which he describes a tea ceremony based upon the philosophical ideals of Wabi-Sabi. Along with a peaceful meditative ceremony style, he encouraged the use of worn, weathered, and unglazed stoneware made by Japanese artisans. Choosing common Japanese pottery over the technically perfect one imported from China, challenges the rules of beauty. Without bright colors and ornate designs to rely on as symbols of accepted beauty, guests were encouraged to study subtle colors and textures that would have been unnoticed. This is a solemn ritual designed to enable participants to escape the pressures of the material world through sharing the spiritual experience of preparing and drinking tea in a humble, rustic tea house.

Engaging with something considered Wabi-Sabi achieves 3 things: 1. An awareness of the natural forces involved in the creation of the piece. 2. An acceptance of the power of nature. 3. An abandonment of dualism- the belief that we are separate from our surroundings. Combined, these experiences allow the viewers to see themselves as part of the natural world, no longer separated by societal constructs and instead at the mercy of natural timelines. Raku ware or raku-yaki is a type of Japanese pottery that is traditionally used for the Japanese tea ceremony, usually in the form of tea bowls. It’s traditionally made by hand building the clay rather than throwing the vessels on a pottery wheel. The final steps of the making process involves firing at low temperatures, removing from the kiln while still hot, and allowing the pieces to cool in the open air. In some cases, potters even arrange horse hair on their pots before firing, which then burns away, creating organic linear markings. 13

Items exhibiting Wabi-Sabi are seen to be more beautiful with age. The more fragile, broken, or individual a humble object is, the more it can be appreciated. Only a few things capture the essence of Wabi-Sabi better than Japanese pottery, where the most treasured pieces are often cracked, patinated or even incomplete. A classic example of Wabi-Sabi is the art of Kintsugi, where cracked pottery is repaired using gold lacquer as a way to showcase the beauty of its damage rather than hiding it.

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As consumer attitudes to sustainability evolve, imperfection in design is increasingly desirable and celebrated. Here are the Instagram accounts of some impressive contemporary ceramists who were inspired by Japanese traditional pottery and Wabi-Sabi.

Michael Hunt & Naomi Dalglish @bandanapottery 18

Akira Satake @akirasatake

Mats Svensson @matgisvensson

Andy Priestman @minniwick

Madalena Telo @madalenatelo 20

Katrin Möschl @kmkeramik

Lisa Hammond @lisahammondpottery 21

art movements There are a few art movements which I believe that in some way relate to the concept of Wabi-Sabi. Art interacts in a very fundamental way in a Wabi space adding profundity and intelligence as well as expressing mysticism and emotion.

arte povera Arte povera was a radical Italian art movement from the late 1960s to 1970s whose artists explored a range of unconventional processes and non-traditional ‘everyday’ materials. Arte povera means literally ‘poor art’ but the word poor here refers to the movement’s signature exploration of a wide range of materials beyond the traditional ones of oil paint on canvas, bronze, or carved marble. 22

Gioseppe Penone, Breath 5 ,1978

In using such throwaway materials, they aimed to challenge and disrupt the values of the commercialised contemporary gallery system. It was marked by an attempt to rescue individuals from the suffocating effects of consumer culture and, according to Arte Povera pioneer Germano Celant, the attempt to break down the separation between art and life.

Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1988

zero group The Zero Group was a group of artists that emerged in Germany and spread to other European countries in the 1950s, led by Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, and Günther Uecker. The artists came together with the collective desire to move away from subjective post-war movements like the French Art Informel and Tachisme. The main idea was to create art that was purely about the work’s materials and the world in which those materials exist, de-emphasising the role of the artist’s hand. The focus was on light and space.

Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept, 1949-50 24

Heinz Mack, Untitled Works, 1961-1970

For the artists of the Zero Group, key areas of exploration were colour (mostly monochrome), light, motion, space and seriality. The artists favoured monochrome colours for various reasons: for one thing, it was a departure from the expressionistic and abstract works by postwar movements like Art Informel. 25

gutai group Gutai were a Japanese avant-garde group formed in 1954 by Jiro Yoshihara, whose radical ideas and approaches to making art anticipated later performance and conceptual art of the 1960s and 1970s. Gutai is not just a fixed idea, it is freedom of the mind, a concept that corresponds to the Wabi spirit of personal, non-stop creative exploration.

Shozo Shimamoto, Untitled, 1959 26

Kazuo Shiraga, Challenging Mud, 1955

In their early public exhibitions in 1955 and 1956 Gutai artists created a series of striking works anticipating later happenings and performance and conceptual art. Shiraga’s Challenge to the Mud 1955, in which the artist rolled half naked in a pile of mud, remains the most celebrated event associated with the group. Through rolling his body though the mud he aimed to feel reconnected with the earth and the cosmos, bringing him closer to the very essence of existence.

spatialism Movimento spaziale or Spazialismo was an Italian art movement founded by the Argentinian-born artist Lucio Fontana, along with a small group of his students, in 1947. Announcing their aspirations in the form of a manifesto—the “Manifesto Blanco,” or white manifesto—the students, under Fontana’s direction, called for new art forms that embraced the latest scientific concepts derived from modern physics. Taking inspiration from the Futurists’ fascination with technology, they advocated for abandoning painting in order to develop an art suitable for the mechanical age, one “based on the unity of space and time.”

Agostino Bonalumi, Grigio, 1991 28

“We have renounced the practice of familiar art forms and are working to develop a kind of art based on the unity of time and space… We think of art as a sum of physical elements: color, sound, movement, time, and space, brought together in a physical and mental whole. Color, an element of space; sound, an element of time; and movement, unfolding in space and time. These are the foundations of Spatialist art.” (Lucio Fontana, 1951)

Jordi Alcaraz, Untitled, 2012 29

textiles: the art of boro How can Wabi-Sabi manifest in textiles? Through repairing and seeing beauty in aged pieces of fabric. The Japanese Boro derived from the Japanese boroboro, meaning something tattered or repaired, boro refers to the practice of reworking and repairing textiles (often clothes or bedding) through piecing, patching and stitching, in order to extent their use. Over generations of families, these textiles would acquire more and more patches, almost to the point of the common observer being unable to recognize where the original fabric began.

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During these periods, and for centuries beforehand, textiles were less prevalent than they are now, so stitches were used to bind, preserve, and extend the lives of household and wearable textiles. Nowadays the textile industry generates 1/5 of the world’s industrial water pollution so which lessons can we learn from this ancient practice? Boro is about prolongating the life of a textile piece instead of throwing it away once it becomes slightly worn out. Boro expresses essential principles of Japanese ethics and aesthetics, such as an appreciation for distinguished imperfections and the avoidance of waste.

wabi interiors “For our house is our corner of the world. As has often been said, it is our first universe, a real cosmos in every sense of the word. If we look at it intimately, the humblest dwelling has beauty” (Gaston Bachelor, Poetics of Space).

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There’s no right or wrong to creating a Wabi-sabi home. It can’t be bought, it is a state of mind, a way of being. It’s the subtle art of being at peace with yourself and your surroundings. 35

A key aspect of Wabi is the effect a well-designed space has on the psychological well-being of the occupant. Modern living spaces are so often defined by fashion and commercial marketing strategies. But Wabi is not a style, a fashion or a design trend. Wabi avoids showy objects and conspicuous displays of wealth. The defining factor that sets Wabi apart is its purity and simplicitya search for the sublime.

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Annabell Kutuku’s design for a creative hub in Berlin blends a reductionist, brutalist design with a Wabi-sabi inspired aesthetic. Rough elements of concrete architecture are balanced out with warm custom elements, including recessed dark timber shelving, dark kitchen cabinetry and timber doors.

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“We believe in the authentic and honest design, clean and emotional interiors. We are inspired by our native land, natural imperfections and traditions of craftsmanship. Every project we touch is filled with life. To see, sense, hear, and taste design – get ready to let the living spirit into your space.” -Yakusha Design Studio

“Wabi wisdom creates a h space, emptin

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heightened consciousness of ness and silence.”

bring wabi-sabi into your life “Bringing Wabi-Sabi into your life doesn’t require money, training, or special skills. It takes a mind quiet enough to appreciate muted beauty, courage not to fear bareness, willingness to accept things as they are—without ornamentation. It depends on the ability to slow down, to shift the balance from doing to being, to appreciating rather than perfecting.” (Wabi-Sabi: The Art of Imperfection by Robyn Griggs Lawrence).

In today’s society everyone is constantly on the go and always looking for newer, better, faster, smarter things to improve their lifestyle. Rather than taking a step back and slowing down and appreciating the things that we have in front of us. Our way of life can be exhaustive, over scheduled and over stimulated. We are always seeking constant gratification and making impulsive purchases and aspire to nothing less than perfection. The pandemic forced people to take a break from their hectic lifestyle. Sometimes complex problems require simple solutions. Our home environments and personal spaces are now not only being used as a place for shelter but also a place of sanctuary 42 and calm from the outside world.

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But how can we incorporate Wabi-Sabi into your home? A lot of people find it hard to feel at home in their own house, we struggle with spaces that lack meaning, are environmentally irresponsible and that we don’t feel any emotional connection with. Wabi-Sabi can help your space making you engage in personal growth, reflection and overall improve your mental and even physical health. Wabi-Sabi is about making use of what you have and not purchasing what you don’t need, rather than falling into the cycle of quickly accessible, cheaply made, quickly thrown away items, consider investing in household goods that will last and grow with you overtime. If you take in consideration the following aspects, I’m sure your home will feel earthy, intimate and cosy.

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1- Incorporate handmade furniture and accessories Embrace and celebrate authenticity. It could be some fabric art that you made, a vase that you came across in a charity shop, homemade ceramic purchases from local markets or independent artists, an old typewriter, an armchair from your grandparent’s house, that crochet bead spread, an old mirror… Everything that has history has a soul and brings beauty to the house.

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2- clear your mess

In order to create calm, peace and tranquillity, a home should be clutter-free. If you need help with this aspect you might want to read Marie Kondo’s book “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” where she teaches her revolutionary methods of simplifying, organizing, and storing.

3- natural materials

Consider using raw, organic materials. Marble, glass, ceramics, stone and metal will add texture to your home. Use less plastic and more wood. Look for an imperfect finish that highlights the beauty of the unfinished and imperfect.

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4- natural colours

Colours that evoke naturalness and convey a feeling of timelessness. Tones that provide tranquillity, comfort, intimacy and serenity. Wabi-Sabi extracts from the colours of nature. Use the colours you see on the country side, on beaches, mountains, volcanoes.

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5- bring the outdoors in Nature will definitely bring a good vibe to your home. Try integrating fresh flowers, wooden furniture and a lot of plants. Organic materials such as bamboo, linen and untreated wood will create the feeling that nature was not added but instead is the space itself.

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6- light

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Embrace natural light. Leave all the lights off until it’s dark outside, this will also help you save on your electricity bill. Try spending more time near the windows (for example, set there your working space). Use darkness as an opportunity to quieten the outside world and encourage introspection. Darkness heightens the senses while also opening the mind for creative and expansive thinking.

my own practice

“Wabi spirit introduces the concep very personal way. Contrary to the West this is not something out of re present in every living moment in e of us has the ability to see the univ flower, or in a small tip of wood” (Ax

pt of infinity into our daily lives in a idea of infinity recognized in the each to most people, instead it is every human being. For every one verse in a simple bowl of tea, or in a xel Vervoordt: Wabi Inspirations)

bibliography -Axel Vervoordt: Wabi Inspirations -BBC Travel: “Japan’s unusual way to view the world” by Lily Crossley-Baxter -Savy Tokyo: “Wabi-Sabi: The Japanese Philosophy Of Embracing Imperfectionism” by Lucy Dayman -National Geographic: “As Consumerism Spreads, Earth Suffers, Study Says” by Hillary Mayell -Utne: “Wabi-Sabi: The Art of Imperfection” by Robyn Griggs Lawrence, from Natural Home -Harleen McLean Interiors: “Wabi-Sabi up your Home Style” by Harleen McLean. -My Modern Met: “Wabi-Sabi: The Japanese Art of Finding Beauty in Imperfect Ceramics” by Emma Taggart -WGSN: “Designing with Darkness” by Claire Dickinson -“Dirty Design: An exploration of dirty design philosophy” by Marjanne van Helvert -“The poetics of space” by Gaston Bachelard

photo credits 1. “WV 07_13.C” by Ines Hildur 2. Wabi-Sabi boro by Michael Kehrlein 3. Scan from the book “Boro: Rags and Tatters from the Far North of Japan” 4. Source: Pinterest 5. Japanese Boro. Source: Pinterest 6. Wood fired pottery 7. Heather Rosenman ceramics 8. Ceramics by Jin Shan 9. Bowl by Kurojino Chawan 10. Wabi-Cha mug 11. Raku Tea Bowl 12. Bowl by Elena Renker 13. Bowl by Suzuki Osamu 14. Bowl by Kohiki Chawan 15. Bowl by Kato Shuntei Masuda Donnou 16. Raku tea Bowl by Waraku Kawasaki 17. An Indigo Dyed Boro Yogi 18. Work by Julie B. Booth 19. Professor E’s FW19 Collection 20. Rick Owens Paris’s Home 21. Interior by Rogan Gregory 22. Photography by Jake Curtis 23. Annabell Kutucu- Brutalist Silence 24. Yakusha Design Studio 25. Scan from the book “Alex Vervoordt: Wabi Inspirations” 26. Iris Lehnhardt, Wabi Sabi Poster 27. Hideaki Yamanobe 28. Kajsa Melchior 29. Rebecca Crowell 30. Lapis lazuli pigment entrapped in the dental calculus on the lower jaw a medieval woman. Discovery by Christina Warinner. 31. Image from Die Korallengattung Fungia (1905) by Ludwig Döderlein 32. Antonio Scaccabarozzi, 1980 63

created by Lara Pereira 64