A Practice of Wabi Sabi.
An English guy called Oliver first told me about Wabi Sabi in a smokey bar in Kathmandu when I was drunk on luke-warm Everest beer.
He was from Birmingham and had planned a gap ‘year’ before studying, but was yet to go home many years later. He was one of those guys who had lots of bracelets on this wrists and even more on his ankles and wore a lot of oversized linen; one of those guys for whom a hair brush was not an item on his packing list. I don’t remember much else about him, to be honest, but he talked about Buddhist impermanence and seeing beauty in human imperfections and something about Japanese tea as we smoked a grape-flavoured Shisha into the night.
I remember being intrigued, if a little light-headed…
Fast-forward ten years and a much more refined taste in alcoholic beverages, I wish I could say I first heard the concept of Wabi Sabi overlooking a reflection pool in the foothills of Mount Fuji, chanted by Japanese Zen masters, but, well, we work with what we have.
An exploration into clay for this project, is allowing me a revisiting of these ideas in a practical sense.
Leonard Koren, Photograph by Carlos Chavarría
“Things wabi-sabi have no need for the reassurance of status or the validation of market culture. They have no need for documentation of provenance. Wabi-sabi-ness in no way depends on knowledge of the creator's background or personality. In fact, it is best if the creator is no distinction, invisible, or anonymous.”
― Leonard Koren, Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers
Please enjoy these offerings, perfectly imperfect.
Thank you, Oliver; wherever you are.