Wabi Sabi

[tweeds]

Agree with viv - one of the popular references for wabi-sabi is denim, as a natural fabric dyed with indigo which abrades with wear, and is to a degree photosensitive and water-soluble. Likewise with a number of 'living' fabrics - leather, linen, etc.

In relation to goods (fashion/otherwise), I like Faust's turn of phrase:

So, say the clothes by Yohji or CdG or Rick are not wabi sabi, but the idea of wabi sabi... The beautiful (and the ugly) thing about fashion is the destruction and recreation of meaning through appropriation by its author (the designer).

Also

Some text about Wabi Sabi I had kept in a file, but I don't remember where it comes from :
"Wabi refers to that which is humble, simple, normal, and healthy, while sabi refers to elegant detachment and the rustic maturity that comes to something as it grows old. It is seen in the quiet loneliness of a garden in which the stones have become covered with moss.The total effect of wabi and sabi is not gloominess or shabbiness, however, but one of peace and tranquillity.
Wabi-sabi is the quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional...It is also two separate words, with related but different meanings. "Wabi" is the kind of perfect beauty that is seemingly-paradoxically caused by just the right kind of imperfection, such as an asymmetry in a ceramic bowl which reflects the handmade craftsmanship, as opposed to another bowl which is perfect, but soul-less and machine-made.
"Sabi" is the kind of beauty that can come only with age, such as the patina on a very old bronze statue. "

http://japaneseaesthetics.com/gpage3.html

[tweeds]

This might be an interesting read. A beautiful woman recommended it to me ...

Wabi Sabi: For Artists, Designers and Poets.

Second B-I's recommendation, but with the caveat: it's probably interesting to note that the author attempts an Enlightenment-style classification of wabi-sabi, which may sometime seem a little at odds with the (slightly misty) object itself...

Another frequent thought about wabi-sabi concerns the implicit Orientalism in the use of the term, or of the concept generally, by (Western) designers who find in it a convenient justification for their projects. A moot point and often a cliched point, but one I think is important to be aware of.

[Atom]

Wabi-sabi is a very interesting concept & this is a very interesting thread. Thanks for this! (altough I think this conversation would fit easier under culture forum)

I've been interested in Japanese culture and aesthetics for quite a long time, and I have read quite a lot about wabi-sabi as well. I have a feeling that most western definitions of wabi-sabi are missing the point. It's linked to Japanese religions, history and aesthetics in a way I'm unable to totally get. More I learn the less I know. Oh well.

I liked a lot of Faust's comment "The clothes by Yohji or CdG or Rick are not wabi sabi, but the idea of wabi sabi". But that's as far I'd go when trying to talk abut clothes (and design) and wabi-sabi in a same sentence.

+1 for In praise of shadows, what a beautiful little book. (It's been published in Finnish as well if anybody from Finland is interested )

I'm not a huge fan of Marcel Theroux in general, but this document had some interesting points. It gives the idea of great difficulties defining such vague concept as wabi-sabi:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6916115281561390843#

[Mail-Moth]

As far as I understand the concept of wabi sabi, it can't be limited to a single definition : it is, at first, a spiritual experience rooting in the contemplation of things in their transient nature. I sincerely think that FtB's last "Flora" series in the SZ bulletin board makes a good illustration here : still lifes bruised and scarred, caught in a silent struggle between the affirmation of life and its erosion, both being coexistent and equally unavoidable.

Then there is what wabi sabi becomes in the hands of the manufacturers and craftsmen trying to create spaces and objects that will altogether become a scene - a scene where actors, provided that they achieve their own part of the play, are finally allowed to experiment this emotion processing from the passing of time - seasons, years - and its afferent beauty. Historically, this approach found its most achieved form in the tea ceremony, where everything, from the bowl and tools to the conversation between those participating - not to forget the architecture and decorating of the lodge, the adjoining garden, even the path the hosts had to walk on to reach it - was concurring to the emergence of that state. Inoue Yasushi's Death of a tea master is certainly one of the best reads to make one understand the level of intrication involved in this - I don't know : ritual ? collective work of art ? Desperate try to resume life to its barest, almost painful essence ?

As for what is discussed here, I assume there's nothing really wrong in saying that there is indeed something very close to wabi sabi in some designers taste for oddness, raw fabrics and time consuming processes.

For if this tea bowl above - an artefact, thus far from being the result of an entirely natural process of alteration - is considered as the product of the wabi sabi aesthetics, then there is no reason not to consider the works of Harnden, Altieri, etc. as part of a very similar category - except maybe that this bowl is unique, when their garments rarely are. Except also that originally those objects were not meant to be sold, if I remember correctly, but to be transmitted , or given - and that, too, was part of the emotion, the bowl, the tools, becoming the support of memories related to someone once dear, now estranged or dead.

[theetruscan]

I agree with Mail-Moth, as far as I understand wabi-sabi.

Raku (Kiln?) glazing is* a technique where a very hot piece of pottery is glazed then rolled in sawdust. This creates imperfections and cracks in the glaze. They are inherently unpredictable, but the idea here is to appreciate the imperfections. This fabrication technique has been described to me as a good introduction to the idea of wabi-sabi.

Here, on the left side, is an example of some Raku Kilned items from the Kyoto Raku Museum.



If Raku exemplifies wabi-sabi, it seems some of the intentionally flawed/distressed/broken garments made by designers popular on sz would also fall in that category. The predictability of the distressing or flawed** construction could be a massive difference, but there seems to be some realistic similarity.

* To the best of my recollection

** I'm referring to things like broken threads, weave irregularities, etcetera. Things that are considered flaws, but that we also see done on purpose by a fair number of designers.

[docus]

Interesting discussion. It makes me think of Rei Kawakubo's Lace Sweater (1982) - she instructed the machinists to loosen screws on the machines in order to produce “a seemingly random pattern of holes [which] provides a commentary on the redundancy of handicraft in an era of machine-made perfection.” (Quote from Deyan)

I think she was playing on the way we value the appearance of wabi-sabi, and the contrived ways we fabricate the effect of it.

[eat me]

It's interesting, if you force the imperfection onto an object, is it still wabi-sabi, or does it have to occur naturally?

There's nothing natural in instructing someone to create imperfection (as in the post above), nor there is in making a pot, seeing how it's edges are not even and leaving it at that, instead of taking time to finish the thing properly.

So apart from natural objects (a tree grown in a peculiar shape, a stone washed in sea for hundreds of years, accidental damage on leather left in a moist place), are the things produced with intention for them to be imperfect, imperfect?

[syed]

As far as I can see I think the confusion comes from wabi sabi as an aesthetic movement codified from the 16th century onwards, and wabi sabi as a general philosophy and mindset. Specifically creating imperfect objects is following the aesthetic of wabi sabi, however it can still be appreciated from the philosophy of wabi sabi to a certain extent. I'm not really sure how far authenticity plays into it, but I think the confusion is simply part of what makes wabi sabi so hard to define.

[michael_kard]

It's interesting, if you force the imperfection onto an object, is it still wabi-sabi, or does it have to occur naturally?

There's nothing natural in instructing someone to create imperfection (as in the post above), nor there is in making a pot, seeing how it's edges are not even and leaving it at that, instead of taking time to finish the thing properly.

So apart from natural objects (a tree grown in a peculiar shape, a stone washed in sea for hundreds of years, accidental damage on leather left in a moist place), are the things produced with intention for them to be imperfect, imperfect?

I'd say it's all about a natural progression, which leads to the acceptance of the evolution of materials throughout time. To be honest, I think this has nothing to do with pre-distressing silly leather jackets. The two things don't really match to begin with given how seasonal clothing is, at least from the perspective of their designers who present at least twice a year.

On the other hand, I guess a nice A-2 from WWII could be leaning towards the aesthetic of Wabi Sabi, if I understand it correctly. Not because it has not been repaired throughout it's lifetime and now looks old and distressed, but because its form is now one with the wearer's body, and time has made it priceless - not to everyone.

[pierce4]

I wonder if you could say that plastic evokes less emotion by virtue of the fact that its decay time is unnoticeable when compared to that of organic materials.

[DmD]

I wonder if you could say that plastic evokes less emotion by virtue of the fact that its decay time is unnoticeable when compared to that of organic materials.

Yes, to the extent that wabi-sabi is about impermanence and the wear by natural processes, plastic would hardly seem a good choice.

On the other hand, other aspects of wabi-sabi could still be explored with plastic. Principles or ideals such as asymmetry, simplicity and modesty are worthy of consideration regardless of material.

But on the more spiritual side, I personally can't think of any plastic items in my life that evoke the feelings of serene melancholy or a spiritual longing that is associated with the wabi-sabi aesthetic. Perhaps I'm not spiritual enough.

[Faust]

I often come back to this, because of the following quote by Robert Pirsig

"Neither is the ugliness inherent in the materials of modern technology ... a statement you sometimes hear. Mass-produced plastics and synthetics aren’t in themselves bad. They’ve just acquired bad associations. A person who’s lived inside stone walls of a prison most of his life is likely to see stone as an inherently ugly material, even though it’s also the prime material of sculpture, and a person who’s lived in a prison of ugly plastic technology that started with his childhood toys and continues through a lifetime of junky consumer products is likely to see this material as inherently ugly. But the real ugliness of modern technology isn’t found in any material or shape or act or product. These are just the objects in which the low Quality appears to reside. It’s our habit of assigning Quality to subjects or objects that gives this impression."

[syed]

"Just as a man lives and grows old, so too does fabric live and age. When fabric is left to age for a year or two, it naturally contracts, and at this point it reveals its charm. The threads have a life of their own, they pass through the seasons and mature. It is only through this process that the true appeal of the fabric is revealed"

- Yohji Yamamoto, My Dear Bomb, p. 57

[Faust]

Really liked this photography book.

[syed]

^ I was actually eying that on Amazon. May have to pick it up