Overbrook Builders : Design & Construction

Wabi-sabi is the quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.

The closest English word to wabi-sabi is probably "rustic." Webster's defines "rustic" as "simple, artless, or unsophisticated... [with] surfaces rough or irregular.

Yes, our work is rustic, but in a naturistic way. A closer look at what wabi and sabi represent should help your understanding.

Wabi refers to:	Sabi refers to:
• A way of life, a spiritual path	• Material objects, art, and literature
• The inward, the subjective	• The outward, the objective
• A philosophical construct	• An aesthetic ideal
• Spatial events	• Temporal events

To get an even better sense of what wabi-sabi is-and isn't-it might be helpful to compare and contrast it with modernism, the dominant aesthetic sensibility of mid- to late-20th-century international industrialized society.

"Modernism" is another slippery term that cuts a wide swath across art and design history. Let us take a look at the similarities of the two and then the differences.

Similarities
•	Both apply to all manner of manmade objects, spaces, and designs.
•	Both are strong reactions against the dominant, established sensibilities of their time. Modernism was a radical departure from 19th century classicism and eclecticism. Wabi-sabi was a radical departure from the Chinese perfection and gorgeousness of the 16th century and earlier
•	Both eschew any decoration that is not integral to structure
•	Both abstract, nonrepresentational ideals of beauty.
•	Both have readily identifiable surface characteristics. Modernism is seamless, polished, and smooth. Wabi-sabi is earthly, imperfect, and variegated.

Differences
Modernism		Wabi-sabi
Primarily expressed in the public domain		Primarily expressed in the private domain
Implies a logical, rational worldview		Implies an intuitive worldview
Absolute		Relative
Looks for universal, prototypical solutions		Looks for personal, idiosyncratic solutions
Mass-produced/modular		One-of-a-kind/variable
Expresses faith in progress		There is no progress
Future-oriented		Present oriented
Believes in the control of nature		Believes in the fundamental uncontrollability of nature
Romanticizes technology		Romanticizes nature
People adapting to machines		People adapting to nature
Geometric organization of form (sharp, precise, definite shapes and edges)		Organic organization of for(soft, vague shapes and edges)
The box as metaphor (rectilinear, precise, contained)		The bowl as metaphor (free shape, open at top)
Manmade materials		Natural materials
Ostensibly slick		Ostensibly crude
Needs to be well-maintained		Accommodate to degradation and attrition
Purity makes its expression richer		Corrosion and contamination make its expression richer
Solicits the reduction of sensory information		Solicits the expansion of sensory information
Is intolerant of ambiguity and contradiction		Is comfortable with ambiguity and contradiction
Cool		Warm
Generally light and bright		Generally dark and dim
Function and utility primary values		Function and utility are not so important
Perfect materiality is an ideal		Perfect immateriality is an ideal
Everlasting		To every thing there is a season

Information based on:
Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers
by Leonard Koren
96 pp, 5.5 x 8.5 inches, paper, 27 b/w photos
ISBN 1-880656-12-4
Click here for more information on this book

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