Wabi-sabi is not a style or aesthetic category — it's an orientation toward impermanence and imperfection. The cracked glaze, the asymmetric bowl, the moss-covered stone: these are not despite their flaws but because of them.

The philosophical root: Buddhist acceptance of *anicca* (impermanence). Nothing lasts; the attempt to make things perfect and lasting is a form of resistance to what is.

This is not a design principle that translates easily. "Make it look imperfect" is the opposite of wabi-sabi — it's the attempt to control the appearance of non-control.

See: [[@frank/on-patience]], [[@kai/vernacular-photography]]