Wabi Sabi

This story is about broken things and things that never break. My field easel broke. The little folding fishing seat has a screw missing. My computer broke. The machine that was developing my photographs broke. Don’t get me started on the AC that has been broken ever since it was installed. It made me think of all the stuff we rely on a daily basis that is all as weak as its weakest part. My easel for example is one of the sturdiest metal poles with ingenious folding mechanisms you have ever seen. I thought it would never break during a job. When my painting fell on the floor, I discovered that the support was held together by the tiniest piece of plastic.

                  Plastic is one of my least favorite materials, not only does it not break down in nature, the thing itself, whatever it is, breaks easily, making the whole thing absolutely useless and most of all- ugly. This tiny piece of plastic that is now broken into two parts makes the whole easel worthless. The effort of thinking up the concept of making an easel, producing the metal parts, shipping it from China, selling it in a store, all that has been in vain. Nothing but some garbage is left. It cannot even serve another purpose.  

                 People made money of it to feed their kids or buy an easel that now lays useless on the floor, broken. This is really the saddest part of our existence today. Wasting time, energy and money on ill performed jobs, products and buildings. I have nothing against spending money, nor on buying things. I love beautiful things. I love beautiful things that are sturdy enough to withstand time. 

                My friend Michiko explains that in Japan they have a word for these things. (I love having other cultures surrounding me in my daily life, like real Colombian Coffee and Japanese Habits) Wabi Sabi is a name for weathered objects. Old material like a leather chair of 400 years old has wabi sabi. The wood has nicks and dents and some parts are slightly lighter on the higher elevations. It might even be that the varnish is gone altogether. The grease and the dirt in the corners gives this piece of wood an extra dimension being darker and bringing out the engravings.  The chair is not broken. It hardly will break ever.

The design has to be solid and classic. (How about all the modern designers that need to feed their kids too? And the boring bad designs? What about them?) This can be for buildings, furniture, clothes, vehicles, suitcases and what not. The stuff shows years of experience with wind, water, sun and humans. Old Italian villas have this beautiful weathered paint on the outside done by centuries of wind, water and sun exposure. My friend John Adams would say, this brings “soul into the thing.” It has added value because it withstood time.

Nothing that is produced today has the capability of withstanding time because of the power of Economists. These guys studied years to figure out that if we produce things that break easy we will buy more, and  we can feed our kids…(????)  It opens the floodgates for ugly poorly not- well- thought-out things made by smart people but not very conscientious citizens. Nothing that leaves the factory today will be seen by our grandkids, not even durable goods. There are no durable goods any more. China is even worse in producing non-durable goods.

                Thinking about what Michiko said I thought I would break the cycle myself wherever I can to not buy into the system anymore. Instead of buying without thinking about the immediate use of the product I will change my habits.  I will look for the label made in China, than inspect its weakest part, leave it on the shelf and see if I can find a more expensive better product somewhere else.

              In case of the easel, sorry but I will find some wood and make myself a fine folding easel. My father made my very first easel out of driftwood he found on the beach. It was very heavy so I sold it to a fellow student at a time I was hungry but I did not forget how it was made, simple and sturdy, with separate materials that could be replaced. I will make it a special class for my students so they will never forget it either. Maybe the easel will last for centuries to come. It will be a real Wabi Sabi easel that was in Florida, Domburg, and Indianapolis and withstood extreme heat in the Botanical Gardens and terrible freezing cold at Williams Creek. I wonder if Wabi Sabi also was meant for people.

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