What is Wabi Sabi

  • Wabi: Means simplicity and elegance
  • Sabi: Means the beauty that comes with age and time

What does wabi-sabi encourage? 
  • Accepting that nothing is perfect or permanent
  • Finding beauty in the imperfect
  • Living in harmony with nature
  • Appreciating roughness, simplicity, modesty, and age
  • Finding joy and inspiration in life
How can wabi-sabi be applied?
  • In art, wabi-sabi can be seen in ikebana (flower arranging) which uses natural materials and emphasizes asymmetry and simplicity 
  • In interior design, wabi-sabi can be seen in minimalist designs that focus on pieces that serve a purpose 
What are some examples of wabi-sabi? Dried flowers or branches, Cracked or chipped pottery, Aged or faded wood, Wrinkled linen napkins, and One-of-a-kind art pieces. 

Source: Adam Levine

Article on Wabi-Sabi and understanding Japan

a philosophy and aesthetic as worldview

Wabi-sabi is an intuitive appreciation of a transient beauty in the physical world that reflects the irreversible flow of life in the spiritual world. It is an understated beauty that exists in the modest, rustic, imperfect, or even decayed, an aesthetic sensibility that finds a melancholic beauty in the impermanence of all things.

-Andrew Juniper