You Can’t Fake Wabi-Sabi

Wabi-sabi is my new favorite concept (well, not new, really, more like old – it’s something you intrinsically recognize whether you know what it’s called or not).

Apparently, wabi-sabi is that beautiful imperfect aesthetic born of the natural processes of time & wear, like a weathered barnwood table or the crumbling stone façade of an old building.   Transience, authenticity, asymmetry, asperity, simplicity, modesty, intimacy…  Expert Robyn Griggs explains it well when she describes the wabi-sabi quality as “accepting the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death… It celebrates cracks and crevices and all the other marks that time, weather, and loving use leave behind.”

So here’s my wabi-sabi for the day…

And what could be more perfect than juxtaposing wabi-sabi & modern, each enhancing the qualities of the other, like yin & yang…

Also, for some wabi-sabi, urban-decay-inspired lighting, check out the boutique designer Re-Surface:

AND (because lists are fun & you can add to them anytime you’re feeling wabi-sabi or not-so -wabi-sabi) Griggs’ lists of Wabi-Sabi Is & Wabi-Sabi Isn’t:

Wabi-Sabi Is…
Havana
Crones
Collapsed barns
Bare branches
December
Handmade
Whispering
Bluegrass
Weathered wood
Crumbling stone
November fields
Farmer’s markets
Wildflowers
The waning moon
The simplicity movement
Greenwich Village
Wool
Rice paper
Clay
Unbleached cotton
Quaker meeting houses
The Grateful Dead
Tea
Bodegas
Record albums
Trading beads
Raggedy Ann
Vintage clothing
Homeopathic medicine
Grafitti art
Alberto Giacometti
Moonlight
Sundials
Cobblestones
Billie Holiday
Mushrooms
Adobe
Arts and Crafts
Molasses
Route 66
Dusk
Johannes Vermeer
Flea markets
Walking
Edgar Allen Poe
Sol LeWitt

Wabi-Sabi Isn’t…
Las Vegas
Virgins
McMansions
Fall color
June
Machine-made
Shouting
Opera
Plastic laminate
Polished marble
April tulips
Strip malls
Roses
The full moon
Keeping up with the Joneses
Times Square
Lycra
Plate glass
China
Cashmere
Cathedrals
The Back Street Boys
Latte
Parrots
Superstores
Compact discs
Pearls
Barbie
Designer logos
Plastic surgery
Fine art
Fernando Botero
Sunlight
Palm pilots
Concrete
Britney Spears
Truffles
Steel
Rococo
NutraSweet
The 405
High noon
Ellsworth Kelly
Pottery Barn
Spinning
Henry James
Marcel Duchamp

(I’m not surprised to see Barbie & Lycra made the Wabi-Sabi Isn’t list, but I’d have to object to The Grateful Dead making the Wabi-Sabi Is list – maybe just a personal thing, but Horse Feathers or Bon Iver would be much better picks)

Tags: etsy, mid century modern, re-surface, robyn griggs, Savannah, sit and read furniture, wabi-sabi

3 Comments to You Can’t Fake Wabi-Sabi

1. 

   I think that wabi sabi is much more than just decay. Hope I have grasped some of the essence in my series called “Left Behind”, “Old Things”, “Fall Colors”, “Fragments”, and, of course, “Wabi Sabi”. Incidentally, I have discovered the concept “wabi sabi” much later than I made some of this art. I think, I always “felt” it just did not “know” about it! Sonia at http://art.soniamelnikova.com.
Sonia on June 8th, 2010
2. 

   I love your lists, concept and images.. bravo blog!!! glad I found you
Mid-Century-Modern on July 29th, 2010

3. [...] to go with white/off-white for that mid-century modern look — or, more accurately, that “mid-century modern wabi sabi” look, but we decided we didn’t have the right house for it. Enter “Heavy Goose” [...]
Paint | kate & brian on April 4th, 2011

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