Forget hygge: Wabi-Sabi is 2018’s Instagram interiors obsession
We've always heard that symmetry is the baseline for perfect beauty, but when it comes to injecting cosiness and personality into the home, angular symmetry can create an atmosphere of tension.
Luckily, the upcoming home wear trend of 2018 is all about embracing imperfections and celebrating the flaws.
It even has a name that evokes an idea of casual comfort – Wabi-sabi.
Wabi-sabi is the Japanese commitment to the imperfect, the well-worn and the everyday, and is in opposition to consumerism.
Much like hygge, there is no direct translation in English, but the concept celebrates the distinctive differences some objects hold, rather than being the exact same as all the others on the assembly line.
The Wabi-sabi look involves well worn woodwork, earthenware pottery, mis-matched but harmonious decor and subtle changes in colour scheme and tone throughout a room.
Wabi-sabi also involves combining the man made with the natural.
This comes from the use of scrubbed wood, multiple types of wood used together, cement, clay and raw textiles.
It's part of the repair rather than replacing philosophy, and objects which have served their purpose well and show signs of their service are admired.
The concept has roots in Buddhism, which encourages peace in an imperfect and hectic world.
'It celebrates cracks and crevices and rot and all the other marks that time and weather and use leave behind,' Natural Home's Robyn Griggs wrote in Utne Reader.
We won't be throwing out that worn rug any time soon, so.
Feature image: bycheni / Instagram
