Research point 1: Wabi-sabi

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese term which has come to represent the idea of there being beauty in imperfection, patina and authenticity. I find this quite encouraging, as to me it means that I don't need to worry if it goes 'wrong', as that is what makes it personal, special and real. Like a home-baked cake, or a hand-knitted sweater, that may not look perfect but has been made with love for the end user and provides warmth, nourishment and enjoyment.

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi) talks of wabi-sabi being a world-view centred on acceptance of transcience and imperfection, beauty that is 'imperfect, impermanent and incomplete' and that will fade away over time. This reminds me of a flower that cannot last, or 'summer's lease' in the Shakespeare sonnet.

Characteristics include:

• assymmetry

• austerity

• roughness

• simplicity

• economy

• modesty

• intimacy

• integrity of natural objects and possessions.

Leonard Kohen: Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers (1994) - introduced this Japanese concept to 'the West'.

Wabi and sabi have separate meanings.

Wabi now connotes rustic simplicity, freshness, quietness - natural or made objects, understated elegeance, quirks, anomalies which add uniqueness, 'wisdom in natural simplicity', 'flawed beauty'.

Sabi - beauty or serenity that comes with age - patins, wear, repairs.

Liberation from material world, transcendence to a simpler life. This is often what we crave - fewer possessions, simpler, well-used and loved.

Passage of time, natural cycles

Concept that encompasses many things.