A Journey into Wabi-Sabi

After my first visit to Japan, I felt an undeniable pull toward the wabi-sabi philosophy. It spoke to the maker in me, to the curious child who longs to explore, create, and understand the beauty found in the simplest moments.

I’ve gathered a few words from one of my favourite books on this subject by Leonard Koren, which deeply resonate with me and my approach to design:

“Pare down to the essence, but don’t remove the poetry.”

Wabi-sabi is about stripping away the unnecessary, treading lightly upon the Earth, and finding beauty in the most humble of things—those small, fleeting encounters that often go unnoticed.

It calls us to stop our pursuit of status, wealth, and luxury, and instead savour the freedom found in simplicity. Leading a wabi-sabi life requires intention, reflection, and sometimes, tough decisions. It teaches us that knowing when to choose and when to simply let things be is just as vital.

In the quiet balance between the pleasure we take in things and the freedom we feel in their absence, wabi-sabi exists.

“Things are either devolving toward, or evolving from, nothingness…”

A traveler, gathering rushes at dusk to create a shelter—only to watch it dissolve back into nature at dawn. This is wabi-sabi. It is the delicate traces left behind by something transient, the memory of a moment, a feeling that lingers even as it fades.

“But when does something’s destiny finally come to fruition? Is the plant complete when it flowers? When it goes to seed? When the seeds sprout? When everything turns into compost?”

For me, wabi-sabi is the acknowledgment of this cycle. The grace found in the imperfection of time, the beauty in things unfinished, and the serenity in letting go.