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2021: Creating a Lexicon of Future

W is for Wabi Sabi

Ruth Glendinning
1 min readDec 6, 2021

I’ve always interpreted ‘wabi sabi’ as the perfection of imperfection.

Julie Pointer Adams, author of Wabi Sabi Welcome describes it as “a way of life that celebrates the perfectly imperfect — beauty found in the unusual, unfashionable places or objects, and in moments usually overlooked or unappreciated.”

Aesthetically, it is the antithesis of modernism — it is crumpled linen napkins, it is a well-worn, well-loved leather handbag, it is irregular surfaces, it is chipped pottery. But it is not solely a visual concept — it is adopting a set of principles that can shift the way we think about how we live.

It is accepting ourselves for who we are, it is opening our homes to others without fear of judgement, it is appreciating what we have without the need to constantly replace and update, and it is the recognition of the passage of time — with its transience and its inevitable deterioration. ~ Learn how to live the wabi-sabi way and embrace imperfection

Sketchplanations: Richard Powell

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Ruth Glendinning
Ruth Glendinning

Written by Ruth Glendinning

Community Architect // Published Poet // Future Story Lab // Anti-Fragile Playbook // S.L.O.W. Tech // #womenswork Buy my book! https://a.co/d/5MG47Di

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