this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2025
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I've always found the concept of wabi-sabi quite fascinating and I'd love to find out a bit more. Are there any books that explore this concept? Something quite approachable would be good.

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[–] seanblxck@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I would absolutely recommend Soetsu Yanagi's The Beauty of Everyday Things.

It's not wabi-sabi per se but it does touch on themes that align with the idea.

It's focus is on 'mingei' - which is less metaphysical and more about folk craft specifically and its socio-cultural, and ethical significance.

[–] OmegaMouse@pawb.social 2 points 10 months ago

Ahh thank you! This isn't one I'd heard of before so I appreciate you sharing it. The topic sounds fascinating, and definitely aligns with what I was looking for.

[–] CuddlyCassowary@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I’ve always liked this one. Pretty short and simple, but well done. “Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, and Philosophers”

https://archive.org/details/wabisabiforartis0000kore

[–] OmegaMouse@pawb.social 2 points 10 months ago

Thanks for the suggestion and link! I'll give it a read :)

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 10 months ago

This is unrelated but you may find this amusing. I never knew that was a legitimate term until now. As a kid I played a lot of Ape Escape and there is a level called Wabi Sabi Wall. I thought it was just sort of nonsense meant to sound foreign.