the ennobling of objects with time . . .

there is an ennobling process of objects (animate & inanimate) with time. one term used, in german, to describe the outcome of this process is edelrost. i happen to personally like this german term because it reminds me of an excerpt from johann wolfgang von goethe’s, das göttliche: edel sei der mensch, hilfreich und gut! denn das allein unterscheidet ihn von allen wesen, die wir kennen. | a paraphrased of goethe’s words in english: on the divine: let man be noble, generous and good; for that alone distinguishes him from all the living beings we know.

“it was one of those days, when it’s a minute away from snowing, and there’s this electricity in the air. you can almost hear it, right? and this bag was just dancing with me, like a little kid begging me to play with it, for fifteen minutes . . .”
an excerpt from ‘american beauty’

we might observe this process as the development of a patina. the japanese have body of thought, centered on the acceptance of transience. this phenomena is called wabi-sabi. | 侘寂 | some important aesthetic characteristics of wabi-sabi include the following: simplicity, asymmetry, irregularity, austerity, imperfectness, impermanence and incompleteness. thanks very much, willy schwenzfeier and patrick fenton, for the wonderful dialogue yesterday evening at sidecar about:

edelrost • wabi-sabi • patina