wabi-sabi, not wasabi.

has anyone else heard of wabi-sabi? i'm thinking most likely, especially those of you who have been dabbling around in interior design longer than myself. i have never heard of this term before last night, and i must say that it has a.) brought clarity to the kind of style that i adore and b.) given me a new word to sound cool when i'm antiquing with friends (hehe). isn't learning new things wonderful? wabi-sabi is japanese and essentially means finding beauty in things that are imperfect. Jackie Ashton over at apartment therapy puts it perfectly....

"Wabi sabi is more than an art, it is a world view that is sometimes described as the beauty of the imperfect, the impermanent, and the incomplete. Its earliest origins are from ancient Chinese Taoism and Zen Buddhism, but it began to shape Japanese culture in the 15th century when the ornate gold, jade and porcelain typically used for tea ceremonies were replaced with simple, rough clay and wooden utensils."

"Wabi sabi is aged wood, not finished floors. Wabi sabi is a flea market, not a high-end store. Wabi sabi is the broken shells you collected on your honeymoon, not the perfectly silver-plated conch someone gave you. Wabi sabi is the Velveteen Rabbit, not Buzz Lightyear. Wabi sabi celebrates the signs of age and the evidence that our items have been cherished and loved -- cracks, crevices, frayed edges, peeling paint, and even rust..."

i love this style. i love the meaning of it. i love what it stands for. i love that the look is so versatile...that adding a piece that is wabi-sabi to a room works no matter what. so much of my furniture is wabi-sabi. it is old, worn, cracked and chipped. it has been loved and used, and it is perfect in its imperfections. my favorite piece is this old counter that was pulled out of an old drugstore. it is wildly worn. when i saw it i knew i had to have it. when my boyfriend, Elliott, and i went to pick it up he nearly died when we walked up....(and by die i mean told me that if i spent more than $20 on that "rotting pile of wood" i got jipped - not "die" as in how we girls "die" (aka swoon) over something marvelous!). every time i look at it now i giggle because i think of how elliott sees it and thinks of a pile of junk and can't fathom how i spent so much $$ on it (he is all boy and just doesn't understand - but it's why i love him!), and i look at it and see character and loveliness and....wabi-sabi-ness (new word?). 

here is a picture of the "old rotting wood"...it's not that rotting right?!: 

my wabi-sabi lamp...an old column from an old house!

   

my wabi-sabi bed side table.

wabi-sabi art:

wabi-sabi kitchens, rooms, and pieces....

now if only i can quit getting confused and calling it wasabi....

"Wabi sabi is a way of seeing the world that is at the heart of Japanese culture. It finds beauty and harmony in what is simple, imperfect, modest, natural, and mysterious. It can be a little dark, but it is also warm and comfortable. It may be best understood as a feeling, rather than as an idea." - Mark Reibstein and Ed Young

images via: greigedesign, sunsetdreamer2, 

mixandchic, apartmenttherapy, atticmag, patrignone