Wabi-sabi

Secrets of creating a harmonious interior.
Japan has given the world various directions in art. Many of them have experienced the influence of Buddhism. The mysterious style of Wabi Sabi is simple, ascetic and incredibly harmonious. Its history began about six centuries ago, but the interiors created according to Japanese canons are still considered supermodel today…

An untranslatable game of hieroglyphs

The name of the style is ambiguous, like the concept of “zen”. The Japanese use the word “Wabi” to denote various qualities: loneliness, imperfection, a half-empty state. It is used in relation to modest people, ascetics, things that require improvement or have been in operation for a long time. The term “Sabi” is also multifaceted. This word is pronounced when it is necessary to indicate that things, feelings are genuine. It is used in relation to natural finishing materials, textiles, laconic simple furniture, people whose behavior does not attract the attention of others and at the same time creates a sense of harmony.

Why simplicity wins over luxury?
Expensive, bright, intricately decorated interior items distract a person from self-knowledge. They are able to negatively affect personal space, make it impossible to concentrate thoughts on something important, interfere with a rest from the daily hustle and bustle. Each of us is a social being, but a person needs a separate space where she can be alone with herself for her development, finding spiritual comfort.

What does Buddhism offer to solve this problem:
– Be content with a minimum of things.
– Give preference to practical multifunctional household items.
– Use furniture, accessories created from natural materials.
It is quite difficult to fully comply with these conditions, because designers who create interiors in the style of Wabi Sabi offer compromise solutions. For example: equip kitchens with built-in appliances, use wooden transformer tables with extremely simple designs.

Do you know?
Wabi Sabi began his conquest of Europe and America 100 years ago. He influenced the formation and development of minimalism, helped to form a new worldview, a whole philosophy of a fundamentally different attitude to everyday objects. Today, Wabi Sabi continues to play the role of a counterweight to popular culture, when a significant part of the world’s population follows the fashion imposed by manufacturers of the same type of goods.

How to find out Wabi Sabi?

The closest “relatives” of the style: minimalism and rustic. The second one is often called a kind of American country music by art critics. From him, the Japanese style adopted a commitment to hand-made things with the difference that the items do not pretend to be bright design accents. Minimalism has many faces, like Wabi Sabi, but the eastern vision of harmony implies a complete or maximum rejection of artificial materials, naturalness of forms, the presence of old pieces of furniture, accessories, decorative elements in the interior.

Buddhist philosophy does not accept adornment for the sake of adornment, it is alien to the consumer attitude to nature.
The main signs of Wabi Sabi:
– Very calm color palette. It is dominated by gray, milky, cream, natural shades of green and brown play an important role. Please note: the style does not abandon the wine color. A prerequisite for its use: the depth of saturated shades should evoke associations with natural phenomena. For example, with the sky at sunrise.
– Minimum amount of furniture, decorative items. This technique is one of the reasons for the feeling of incompleteness that arises when looking at the interior in the style of Wabi Sabi. At the same time, there is a very strict requirement for accessories: there should not be more than 2-3 items in one room. It is permissible to place a bonsai tree or a live plant in a pot in the room. If it is decided to put rough handmade ceramics in the room, you can combine an ink drawing or a scroll with wise sayings dedicated to the meaning of life with it.

– Scattered light. To make it so, they install panoramic windows (facing parks, squares, reservoirs), built-in spotlights, floor lamps. As an option, rectangular, square lamps consisting of wooden frames, paper lampshades can be used.
– Organization of the space of premises based on the principles of open-plan planning. As zoning tools, designers use light screens, low tables, zabutons (flat floor cushions replacing chairs), niches with mounted lamps, where there are vases with dead wood, scrolls, ink graphics, scrolls. No more than one accessory in the recess or on the shelf!.
– Simple textures, shapes, solutions. To create an interior in the style of Wabi Sabi, designers actively use wood, plywood, rice paper, white frosted glass. In this case, straight lines dominate the room, which still does not completely exclude the presence of asymmetric objects. And for the decoration of walls, ceilings, floors, professionals use plywood, wood, paper wallpaper, externally imitating mats or sandy, pebble shores, various types of decorative plaster.

Wabi Sabi has nothing in common with the pseudo-Japanese style. The latter is very close in spirit to… German kitsch. The pseudo-Japanese style implies the presence in the premises of a large number of scrolls with hieroglyphs, sliding partitions, engravings with geisha, sakura, fans, samurai swords, panels with views of nature. Such a surplus among connoisseurs of the East is associated exclusively with bad taste.
It dissolved and remained autonomous

To comprehend Zen, a person needs to take two steps: to give up the ego (his Self), to become part of an infinite, multi-faceted Universe. The same thing happened with Wabi Sabi. In its pure form, the style is extremely rare (even in the homes of hereditary Japanese samurai aristocrats), but its components can be seen in many Eastern, European, American directions.

The most popular elements of Wabi Sabi:
– Surfaces for stone, concrete.
– Light panels on the ceilings.
– Floor coverings made of ceramic tiles, laminate, wood.
– Low sofas, futon beds.
– Wardrobes, walk-in closets.
– Sliding doors, frosted partitions
– Panel, translucent curtains.
– Cushion cushions.
– Large ceramic vases with dead wood.

For all its rigor, austerity, conciseness, the style has a high degree of versatility. His techniques are actively used nowadays to organize the space of any size, purpose of premises.

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