Wabi-Sabi as an Antidote to Perfectionism

Beyond minimalism: on graceful humility, and the understated benefits of acceptance

When I was growing up, I would regularly go to my friend Paul’s house. His bedroom was down in the basement, but in order to get there, you had to walk through a little hallway with an old trunk sitting there — which doubled as a bench where you could take your shoes off. As I took this trip more and more times, I came to look forward to seeing that trunk.

It was old canvas trunk with a wood frame. It had discolorations, scuff marks, and areas where the canvas was a bit tattered and the wood chipped. Not long ago, I happened upon what looked like a brand new version of that same trunk — with fresh, bright canvas and new, polished and unblemished wood frame. The brass was bright yellow and shiny, each rivet plainly visible. It was striking. But it couldn’t hold a candle to that old trunk in Paul’s house.There was something about that old trunk, something that made it exponentially more pleasing to behold than a shiny new trunk.

This isn’t an anomaly. The “worn-in” aesthetic has been finding its way into various arenas over the past few decades. In the late 90s/early 2000s it was the “distressed” clothing movement. As the 2010s came around, antiques and repurposed building materials…