Wabi-sabi: the beauty of imperfection
Why did we keep the cracks of an old house in Wabi Residence? What wabi-sabi means in restoration and interiors.
Wabi-sabi is a way of seeing that accepts the beauty of the incomplete, the transient and the imperfect. In architecture it means designing with the marks of time rather than erasing them.
Not hiding the old
In the Kuzguncuk house we did not replace the worn floorboards; we only cleaned and oiled them. We did not fill the cracks in the lime plaster; the surface remained a map of time.
The new should be quiet
Everything we added stays in the background: a linen curtain, a low sofa, a single handmade vase. Old and new do not compete.
Materials that age
Lime, timber, linen and stone grow more beautiful with age. Choosing them lets a house become calmer over the years.
