We felt immedately at home when we discoverd the Japanese Wabi-Sabi aesthetic. This is exactely what we have been looking for since ever.

It is a difficult concept to describe, but we found a nice summary of Wabi-Sabi in the Three Japanese Tenets from Alan Fletcher:

Subtle Elegance. The attraction of the unusual or idiosyncratic. The primitive mask, a mysterious object, an obscure agricultural tool. Suki is the fascination exerted by the unknown and unfamilar.

Tranquil Simplicity. The intrinsic quality of colours and materials, forms and textures. Plain clay pots, woven baskets. Wabi is the spirit of poverty, appreciation of the commonplace. The fine line which precariously separates beauty from from shabbiness.

Patina of Age. The enhancement of the ravages of time. The castle ruin, the armless statue. Sabi is when age, wear and tear, bring something to the very threshold of demise.

Alan Fletcher, "The art of looking sideway", Phaidon, 2001.

Leonard Koren, "Wabi-Sabi, for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers", 1994.