STYLE: DESIGN : Imperfect World

Appreciating the imperfect, impermanent or incomplete isn’t the way of the West. Yet such qualities, known collectively as wabi-sabi , have been celebrated by the Japanese for centuries . In his new book, “ Wabi-Sabi : For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers” (Stone Bridge Press), writer-architect-photographer Leonard Koren explores the traditional Japanese aesthetic through close-ups of the commonplace. “Things wabi-sabi often appear odd, misshapen, awkward or what many people would consider ugly,” he writes. “They record the sun, wind, rain, heat and cold in a language of discoloration, rust, tarnish, stain, warping, shrinking, shriveling and cracking. Their nicks, chips, bruises, scars, dents, peeling and other forms of attrition are a testament to histories of use and misuse.” Wabi-sabi --a way of looking at the world to challenge the eye of the beholder.