6.10.2011

Wabi Sabi


Wabi Sabi is a lovely japanese concept that means, as far as I understand it, imperfect beauty. It seems that this is a fitting idea to describe the state of a household with young children. Or maybe that's a complete mis-application, but hey, it makes me feel better.

Nothing is ever quite finished... or if and when a room or surface is cleaned up, it quickly goes back to a state of messiness. I used to think about this as kind of that scientific theory that everything always slips towards the direction of chaos, which really frustrated me. It is much pleasanter instead to embrace the notion of wabi sabi and enjoy the signs of life that our imperfect beauty reflect, right?






12 comments:

jo said...

thanks so much for this post. wabi sabi sums up my ideal aesthetic, but i didn't know of the term until now. if i ever get a photography business up and running, i'm going to call it wabi sabi photography. :)

Unknown said...

What a lovely post and concept, I shall remember that word.

Ana Degenaar said...

SO cute!

Carissa said...

I have decided that I either live in an artist commune, or the laboratory of a mad scientist with my three children. My walls are covered with their latest projects, glitter can be found in every nook and cranny, their are more ropes and pulleys than can be found on the average construction site, and my floors are littered with the pages of their latest fanciful stories. I've mostly given into it in hopes that they'll all grow up and accomplish something great. Creative people are messy people.

melissa said...

I wholeheartedly agree Miss Lynne. I feel like nothing will ever be in a perfect state chez-moi, though I'm constantly striving for it. Maybe it's the striving that's important and learning to be content with the act and process itself, rather than the end product. A sort of I-give-in-to-chaos attitude, that allows us to not stress but enjoy the continually effort to improve.

melissa said...

P.S. the sleeping four-year old is my favorite photo...

Unknown said...

ah, it's good to hear that i'm not alone. summer vacation is driving me bananas...my kids are slobs! :)

Oliver @ Sabi Style said...

ahh it warms my heart to see the joy of embracing wabi sabi!

Wonderful post!

Treva said...

Thank you for illuminating the term, I shall use it everyday around here from now on. Would you care to share what that lovely workbook is (the one open to the RED page)? It looks like fun.

iserve pharmacy said...

One thing that I liked when I was a kid. It was to paint and do amazing stuff with color and pencils

peakoilscotland said...

I found a lot of useful data in this post!

Winifred said...

There's no doubt, the dude is absolutely right.