wabi sabi

Wabi sabi is the beauty we are able to find in that which is imperfect and unconventional. It is the capacity to turn what one could consider ugly into something beautiful by means of the way it is perceived. An alternative way of seeing beauty, wabi sabi is, above all, an attitude. The first compliment my boyfriend ever gave me was mi piacciano i tuoi rughi quando ridi (I like your wrinkles when you smile). And this is the best example I can give to explain the meaning of wabi sabi.

the aesthetics of perception

During the 1400's there was a Zen monk named Shuko who revolutionized tea cermonies because, until then, tea ceremonies were something like stuffy cocktail parties where fancy dishes and imported teas were the aesthetic norms. Then Shuko came along and changed everything. He introduced the idea of local and not imported as well as mild and not mannered. And this was the beginning of wabi sabi.

Shuko said that the essence of tea and Zen were the same because both strove to elevate life via the mundane practices of daily activities. Thus tea ceremonies evolved around the philosophy of Living The Moment. Tea rituals were a means of putting into practice the aesthetic and spiritual principles of Zen Buddhism. The tea ceremony represented a desire to converge life with art.

Wabi sabi is slightly melancholic because it elogizes that which is ephemeral. For example, one of its leitmotifs is the fallen flower petal--beauty that is destined to fade and disappear. It emphasizes the organic universe (growth, decay, erosion, etc.) alluding to the passage of time. Wabi sabi is about process and not product. It is about looking for beauty in daily life--a worn pair of shoes, a shutter with chipped paint, old books with yellowed pages and rusted tin cups. Wabi sabi is having an old leather handbag repaired instead of buying a new one.

Wabi sabi objects are appreciated in daily life and not closed in museums.

A wabi sabi weekend is spent, for example, walking on fallen leaves and picking up twigs.

Wabi sabi is asymmetrical and biomorphic because geometry implies a desire for order and perfection. Furthermore, biomorphic shapes are easier on the eyes.

Western aesthetics are oriented towards cognitive knowledge and design principles whereas Eastern aesthetics are oriented towards emotional reaction and the awareness of one's surroundings.

Wabi sabi is the elegance of the understatement--less is better. Like classic Armani designs. It is the elimination of the unncessary concentrating on the quality of life instead of on the quantity of things.

Wabi sabi is also the desire to transcent the quotidian by perceiving it in a different way. In wabi sabi the natural environment becomes a medium through which the spiritual self can be explored.

Wabi sabi aesthetics are based on sensation and not on thought. Having tea is not a thought, it is an experience that leads to sensation.

Wabi sabi is perception and not knowledge because it is the perception of those thing which cannot be seen. Wabi sabi is seeing via emotion and experience and not via physiological or cognitive acts.