Wabi-sabi 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
(Leonard Koren)

This is the intriguing introduction to Leonard Koren’s book “Wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosophers“. He introduced the term “Wabi-Sabi” in 1994. But the roots of this concept are much older. Its origins lies in Chinese Taoism and Zen Buddhism. Koren describes the Japanese aesthetics in art, literature, poetry and wisdom of life. From its growth in the 15th century until now.

The first description of these aesthetic values from Japanese culture, is by Japanese auteur Kakuzo Okakura. In an attempt to close the gap between the aesthetic values of the east and the west, he wrote “The Book of Tea” published in 1906. Because he wrote it directly in English he made it accessible to Western readers who can’t read Japanese.

Where the West strives for greatness, perfection and the denial of decay, Wabi-Sabi embraces the human measure, the irreversible and the cycle of all that lives. This concept of life has not only much to offer the ceramist.