Thinking back on my relationship with Wabi-Sabi, I think it’s fair to say it began with my personal discovery of the peaceful pleasures inherent in the Chinese tea ceremony.
In the midst of completing graduate studies, I felt a need to calm my mind and body and stumbled upon a small, unassuming tea shop with a welcoming and attentive host. I was captivated by the tea ceremony process and flavours, soon collecting a wide array of teapots, teas, implements, as of course books.
It was through one of these books, "The Book of Tea" by Kakuzo Okakura (1906), that I learned about the history of tea and its connection with philosophies, religions, and arts. My thirst for knowledge lead me to what became a personal foundational text – "Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers" by Leonard Koren (2008) – influencing my views on life, art, work, and interestingly enough, desk design.
Wabi-Sabi has been described, in relation to traditional Japanese aesthetics, as a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection (https://nobleharbor.com/tea/chado/WhatIsWabi-Sabi.htm).
The concepts of Wabi-Sabi, by their nature, can be difficult to identify concretely. However, Leonard Koren tries to illustrate its properties by comparing and contrasting it with Modernism and helpfully describing its spiritual values through three I’s: all things are impermanent, imperfect, and incomplete.
IMPERMANENCE: Wabi-Sabi views all things as moving unrelentingly moving towards a state of nothingness and nonexistence.
IMPERMANENCE: Wabi-Sabi views all things as moving unrelentingly moving towards a state of nothingness and nonexistence.
IMPERFECTION: Wabi-Sabi is an appreciation that all things have imperfections and irregularities.
DESK INSPIRATIONS:
In designing and building our desk, I found myself inspired to both move towards harmony (+) and in opposition (-) to Wabi-Sabi, for artistic, philosophical, and structural reasons. I would like to outline elements and decisions in relation to broader aspects of Wabi-Sabi and look at each “I” individually.
ASPECTS:
(+) The desk’s design and construction emphasised clean and simple lines, without unnecessary decorations or elaborate/contrasting elements.
(-) While the desk constructed largely wood and natural materials, maintaining a strong and clear connection with the earth, we also used metal (brass and steel) hardware.
(+) This desk is one-of-a-kind and unique, designed to fit the specific needs of the builders and in opposition to the mass produced furniture. In this way it is personal and specific.
(+/-) The design of the desks both emphasizes symmetry as a double pedestal desk with asymmetry through its divided top and graduated sized drawers.
(+) Through its many locked drawers (5) and hidden compartments (9!), the desk's design embraces Wabi-Sabi's focus on the personal, intimate, subtle, and hidden.
IMPERMANENCE:
(+) The design of the desk includes sliding dovetails, frame and panel construction, adjustable hardware to accommodate for the movement (expansion and contraction) of the wood. This accepts that the desk is in a continuous state of change.
(-) We also took steps to prevent change and degradation, using metal drawer slides and handles to prevent excessive wear and importantly various finishing materials (polyurethanes and oils) to protect the wood from wear/damage, in an attempt to preserve current state.
(+) The desk designed and constructed in such a way to be modular: it can be arranged either as a double or single pedestal desk. This was to allow options for how the desk can be set up in a larger or smaller space, with the extra pedestal to be repurposed as an additional side table/cabinet. This allows the desk to change as needed, a contrast to most traditional desk which, once constructed, remain unchangeable in one piece.
IMPERFECTION:
(+) Primarily made of wood, the desk’s beauty comes from its natural variations in grain, coloration, and tactility. These changes capture the eye and stand in contrast to the uniformity provided by steel and plastics.
(+) Likewise, the natural expansion and contractions of the wood allow the desk to “breathe”, with lines and dimensions changing over time from exact to approximate.
(+/-) Constructing this desk, however, requires consistent attention to details, precision in assembly, and use of jigs to create accurate measurements and action. Accepting the nature of imperfection is balanced with great care, control, and desire an outcome as close to perfection as can be achieved.
INCOMPLETION:
(+) This desk, as art and craft, is both an object and a process. Where does the process start – with an idea, design, construction, use, contemplation, or in writing? Is a desk complete without someone to sit and use it? Is a desk complete when its drawers are empty?
(+) In practical terms, although the desk may be considered complete when woodworking finished, being made of solid hardwood, what of when it is refinished/sealed over the next years as it fulfils its purpose (and maybe takes and few extra marks along the way)?
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