Wabi-Sabi Time Keeping

The Merkhet.

The Merkhet was used by ancient Egyptians to tell time accurately even at night. Two pairs of merkhets were needed for proper operation.

The user would align the rising star (North Pole star) with the plumb line, and place the bay(Y-shaped stick with a slit in the middle), and determine the meridian. By observing particular stars as they crossed the meridian, they could determine time.

Such ancient ways of time keeping inspired me to design a similar tool in the modern day that can be operated by a single individual to keep track of time. But given the “simplicity” of the operation of such ancient artefacts, I wondered what would a modern version of the merkhet would look like, while giving full consideration to the Wabi-Sabi philosophy?

The tea cup above struck me as a great example of Wabi-Sabi as pertaining to my goals. The characters written on the side reminded me whether it was used for a different purpose at some point in this teacup’s life. Was it for records?

This led me to the history of record keeping.

These are photographs of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. It is the longest, unbroken record of a single dynasty in the world. Spanning over 452 years, not even the kings were permitted to read or change the documents.

I wondered what would be required at the most minimum, for the device to work as designed. I started by reducing and eliminating elements that are not required in determining an accurate time.

Going back to the idea of keeping records over time, I imagined what the paper would end up looking like, if people were to use the device and mark the paper with their own time keeping measurements. Over time, the paper will get filled with more lines, resulting in a more accurate time piece.

The use of ink brush and paper provoke the sense of unfinished yet completeness.

“The onlooker must merge in the image, completing the empty spaces, making it a lively element of nature itself, ‘between’ visible and invisible” — Ghildari