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Category Archives: Wabi-Sabi
Simply Imperfect.
Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Beautiful Behavior
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“The essence of education is not to transfer knowledge; it is to guide the learning process, to put responsibility for study into the students’ own hands.”—Tsunesaburo Makiguchi
I went to Japan to learn more about wabi-sabi. I found it in the crowded, twisted alleyways of Tokyo’s Asakusa district, where I was always lost and strangers would walk me to my destination if they didn’t … Continue reading
Posted in Wabi-Sabi
Tagged Shigaraki pottery, Shiho Kanzaki, wabi-sabi living, wabi-sabi pottery, wood-fired pottery
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Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Clear the Clutter
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it.”—Simone Weil
A couple years ago I gave a workshop called “Making Your Home Your Sanctuary” in New York City. Before we got under way, each of us talked about what we loved—and hated—about our homes. Almost every participant mentioned clutter as his or her number one obstacle … Continue reading
Posted in Happy Home, Wabi-Sabi
Tagged decluttering tips, get rid of clutter, how to declutter, uncluttering, uncluttering advice
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Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Zen’s Guiding Lights
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
Zen’s seven ruling principles are wabi-sabi’s foundation.
Stiff, frozen symmetry and artificial perfection are imagination’s nemesis. More human than godlike, asymmetry is loose and spontaneous.
Simplicity (Kanso)
Zen is sparse, fresh and neat.
Zen asks … Continue reading
Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Finding a New Lens
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” —Marcel Proust
I landed at Kate NaDeau’s sweet, rustic stone house on a hillside near Belfast, Maine, while scouting houses and gardens to feature in Natural Home magazine. I had gone to see Kate’s gardens, bountiful with vegetables, flowers and herbs that she sells at the farmers’ market under … Continue reading
Posted in Happy Home, Wabi-Sabi
Tagged Leonard Koren, Scott and Helen Nearing, Stone Soup Farm, wabi-sabi, wabi-sabi house
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Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Beauty in Imperfection
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
Sitting quietly, doing nothing
Spring comes, and the grass grows by itself.
–Zenrin, The Gospel According to Zen
The words wabi and sabi weren’t always linked, although they’ve been together for such a long time that many people use them interchangeably. I met a Tea teacher who hates the phrase because the marriage dilutes the two words’ separate … Continue reading
Posted in Wabi-Sabi
Tagged imperfect beauty, understanding wabi-sabi, wabi-sabi, wabi-sabi explained, wabi-sabi history
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Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Slow Design
“The parking lots and aisles of discount stores may be where the restless dead of a commodity civilization will tread out their numberless days.”—Lewis Hyde
Since it was founded in 1986, Slow Food has inspired a Slow movement. Carlo Petrini founded Slow Food, an international organization that links food’s pleasures with community and the environment, to fight the corporate banality that was destroying the culinary experience. In the past decade, Slow Food has spawned a Slow movement that includes Slow … Continue reading
Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Give Yourself Sacred Space
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“I would like you, even in this busy age and even though your house may be small, to set aside a space (although it may seem a wasteful use of space) to serve as a place where you can reflect upon yourself.”—Sen Soshitsu XV
If you’re lucky, you can find a space in the attic or have a small spare bedroom that you could … Continue reading
Posted in Happy Home, Wabi-Sabi
Tagged how to make an altar, meditation, meditation space, Sarah Susanka
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Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Against the Machine
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“With the proper deployment of budget and computer time, we will cure cancer, save ourselves from nuclear extinction, grow food for everybody, detoxify the results of industrial greed gone berserk — realize all the wistful pipe dreams of our days.” – Thomas Ruggles Pynchon, 1984
In the early 1800s, led by a fictional leader known as King Ludd, angry craftsmen attacked English … Continue reading
Posted in Wabi-Sabi
Tagged John Maeda, King Ludd, luddite movement, neo-luddites, Theodore Roszak, Thomas Pynchon
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Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Christmas Ease
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“After all, what is your hosts’ purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they’d have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi.”—P.J. O’Rourke
I wanted to give my kids the elaborate Christmas Eve memories that my mom had given my siblings and me. When I was growing up, we … Continue reading
Wabi-Sabi Weekend: Our Stuff is Us
On Wabi-Sabi Weekends, I post excerpts from my book, Simply Imperfect: Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House.
“Every possession is a symbol of the self.” —Georg Simmel
We Westerners struggle mightily with stuff. Every year, books full of advice on uncluttering and organizing are published; websites and newspapers revisit the subject regularly. Nothing sells magazines better than cover blurbs promising to help readers unclutter.
According to the Self Storage Association, the average person owns four and a half tons of material … Continue reading
Posted in Happy Home, Wabi-Sabi
Tagged Americans and clutter, overconsumption, psychology of clutter, too much stuff, uncluttering, wabi-sabi
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