Examples of wabi-sabi
Something I wrote in 2012
My love and fascination for wabi-sabi never faded since I learnt about it for the first time in 2002. And the more I observe it the more I see how important it is in our time and our futures. We crave the hand made, the exclusive event and the surprising detail. We long for moments that can’t be repeated, something that moves us and with that a closeness to nature.
The Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi is defined by Leonard Koren as: “Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.”
MAARTEN BAAS
The first time I was moved by wabi-sabi, I didn’t even understand that it was wabi-sabi. But when I saw Maarten Baas “smoke” chair for the first time, I felt my heart beating faster. Maarten took old baroque chairs and literally set fire to them. Then he put out the fire and coated the chairs in epoxy resin and added luxurious leather upholstery. I don’t know if Maarten Bass sees him self as a wabi-sabi designer, but his work and website is an excellent example of wabi-sabi style. And his pieces are extreemly succesful and poplular. There is something about the way he designs that moves people somewhere a little deeper.
HANS KRULL
One day, I was looking at the artist Hans Krull’s last upload of pictures on facebook. He had made some drawings in the sand, and as beautiful as they were, then they would obviously never last. As soon as they were made, they were only waiting to be transformed by the elements. I couldn’t resist make a comment on the wabi-sabi-ness of what he was doing. And he quickly named the day be “the international wabi-sabi day” and made a string of cute little wabi-sabi paintings in the sand. Fleeting art like this is an ‘exclusive’ event. You had to be there to see it. There is no going back later.
ANTHROPOLOGIE
When I have to mention a moderne wabi-sabi concept, then I always talk about Anthropologie. It is one of my favourites shops, and even their website ooze wabi-sabi. This is a picture from Anthropologie on Kings Road in London where I quickly snapped this picture of their most obvious wabi-sabi detail inside. This is a very simple piece of art. You have a row of identical in size pieces of plywood. They are all painted in the same colour. And then you take a piece of hot metal (I imagine) and dump it on the pieces of plywood, one after one, making for a very interesting and very inspiring piece of art. I found myself sucked into this piece, wondering about so many things. Good wabi-sabi.
FAT BOY SLIM
And finally then I think it is also worth taking a look at the award winning video by Fat Boy Slim, featuring Christopher Walken dancing. The brilliance of this video is not on his flawless steps and cool posing as mostly seen on MTV. The beauty of this video is in the vulnerability of Christopher Walken, his intensity and imperfection. Watch it now and notice what it does to you.
All the best,
Mette
To see LEONARD KOREN’s website, click here
To see MAARTEN BAAS website, click here
To visit HANS KRULL on Facebook, click here
To visit the ANTHROPOLOGIE website, click here