don't remove the poetry

(..) how do you exercise the restraint that simplicity requires without crossing over into ostentatious austerity? how do you pay attention to all the necessary details without becoming excessively fussy? how do you achieve simplicity without inviting boredom? 

the simplicity of wabi-sabi is probably best descibed as the state of grace arrived at by a sober, modest, heartfelt intelligence. the main strategy of this intelligence is economy of means. pare down to the essence, but don't remove the poetry. keep things clear and unencumbered, but don't sterilize. (things wabi-sabi are emotionally warm, never cold.) usually this implies a limited palette of materials. it also means keeping conspicuous features to a minimum. but it doesn't mean removing the invisible connective tissue that somehow binds the elements into a meaningful whole. it also doesn't mean in any way diminishing something's "interestingness", the quality that compels us to look at something over, and over, and over again.

: leonard koren, wabi-sabi for artists, designers, poets & philosphers