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The Immaterialist

resilient living in a limitless world

March 13, 2018September 5, 2019

What is aesthetic sustainability?

A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed about aesthetic sustainability by Sustain Daily as a part of their crowdfunding campaign for their magazine Sustain Yearly. I am very pleased that the magazine is now a reality – you can order it here

The full interview can be seen here – hope you will enjoy!

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Posted in aesthetic sustainability, aestheticsTagged aesthetic sustainability, aesthetics, sustainability, sustainable behaviour, sustainable design, sustainablefashion, sustainablelivingBy khharperLeave a comment

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In my upcoming book Anti-trend I investigate the art of sustainable living, and as a part hereof the existentialist, ethical dimension. This is a short quote from the book:

The aesthetic nourishment that a well-crafted object made by the hands of a skilled artisan contains is of great importance to our human well-being. Not least in an era in which we are increasingly deprived of hands-on, offline activities and experiences. The beauty of a beautifully handmade object, whether this being a shawl, bedspread, a chair or a vase, increases our daily wellbeing by offering us the pleasure of continuously using an aesthetically pleasing object as well as the pleasure of experiencing such an object embracing traces of usage in a flattering way. This kind of human wellbeing furthermore increases our ability to live sustainably, as it decreases our need for new things and hence makes it easier for us to reduce our consumption.

Morning view 🌴 The jungle in the morning is magical. It rained last night, so all the leaves are fresh and green, and the mist rises from the ground as the sun starts to warm everything up. The sounds of insects, chickens, and birds are omnipresent. The world is slowly waking up.

As a part of my research I write a lot about resilience. Resilience is often connected to ecosystems and permaculture. Ecological resilience refers to the ability of an ecosystem to respond to and recover from damage, disturbance or homogenization (often human led). The most resilient being; animal, plant - or human being for that matter - is a flexible, adjustable being. Simply put, if one is able to adjust to one’s environment; to get the most out of the nutrition available, regulate according to weather conditions, adapt to customs, enter communities, or if one can be both bendable and robust, well, then one is more likely to endure and thrive than if one is unbendable and stagnant.

This beautiful woman was one of the master weavers in Sudaji village. Her name was Dadong Sentari. She mastered various weaving techniques, such as endek (ikat) and songket (double ikat or two-sided ikat), and memorised a multitude of traditional patterns packed with symbols and anecdotes. She died this year at age 111!

Today I am grateful for this beautiful, peaceful workspace as I am writing text for the @alamanda_sudaji_bali website.

The magic of indigo 💙

Today is full moon which is always special in Bali and celebrated with incense filled ceremonies. On top here of a ceremony is being held here in Sudaji village to bless the beautiful new handmade entrance carvings in one of the local temples. I have been watching the carvers work these past days. They have been working hard and concentrated til late to finish up their work. They have created lush flower ranks, tigers, scorpions, dragons, and warriors out of volcanic rocks and sandstone.

"Beauty is often considered a fleeting thing. Something that disappears as a result of decay, wear, or aging. Something that is “crisp” and new. In this way, beauty is connected to the polished, to the not-worn, to the “pretty,” and to the pure, aromatic, and proper. However, there exist philosophico-aesthetic traditions that associate beauty with the uneven, unpolished, and corporeally challenging--rather than with newness--and even with aging, decay, and wear. This concerns the aesthetics of decay--a concept favored by photographers who are attracted to ruins and abandoned urban environments, but which also has provenance in relation to aesthetic sustainability. The aesthetics of decay celebrate decline! Aestheticians of decay like to show the beauty of peeling paint; tattered wallpaper; overgrown walls covered in wild, uncontrollable vegetation; and pockmarked rooftops infested with pigeon’s nests and spider webs--or, in other words, the beauty that appears when letting something “be,” allowing the ravages of time, wind, and weather to stamp objects and buildings.

We are in the process of building a simple, open wooden house on the land of our beautiful friends. It is an amazing project that fills my heart with gratitude. The local community is deeply involved, and we have been able to employ workers that would otherwise be without work during these turbulent times. The house is in walking distance from our friends and my Alamanda co-founder, and she and I are in the process of planning a garden with plants for natural dye. I also want to create a vegetable garden so that we can be as self-sufficient as possible.

My book "Anti-trend - Resilient Design and the Art of Sustainable Living" will be published in September, and I wanted to share the story of the beautiful cover illustration with you. It is created by my incredibly talented friend @tedguidotti. Each leaf and each little dot is hand drawn, which gives it the most beautiful visual texture. In these videos (slide) you can hear Ted telling about his thoughts behind the design and the slow creation process.

As I have started working intensely with building up @alamanda_sudaji_bali I find myself occupied with a theme that I explored vastly in Aesthetic Sustainability, namely the value of aesthetic sustainability - and as a part hereof charging an object with time. Traditional weaving is immensely time consuming, and unless the consumer appreciates the worth that all the thoroughness and all the time and skill adds to the product, a large part of the aesthetic value is missed. As I wrote in Aesthetic Sustainability: when an object becomes a container of time - and thus physical, material, or concrete stories - it is charged with emotional and tactile value, making it more than just a thing. This is the case of the handcrafted garments and interior accessories Alamanda's incredibly talented craftswomen create. Furthermore, there is another kind of time present in the products: slowly, handcrafted products decay in an aesthetic manner. They might even get more beautiful with time and usage. Time makes them "assume their character" (as I put it in Aesthetic Sustainability). Indigo fades beautifully into lighter shades of blue, densely woven textile becomes softer when used, and wear-and-tear might even increase the aesthetic value as seen in vintage objects. As my lovely co-founder Putu and I are developing Alamanda we are looking at not only creating crafted products made from virgin materials, but also including secondhans textiles and upcycling these or combining them with traditionally ikat woven pieces. Integrating parts of recycled objects or materials and thus working with a mix of new and old elements can create an interesting expression that consists of many different time sequences, and hence increases and prolongs the aesthetic experience. We are launching our website soon. Can't wait to share more. #theimmaterialist #alamanda #alamandasudajibali #crafts #handcrafted #handwoven #womensempowerment #traditionalpattern #doubleikat #ikat #artisan #localplants #naturaldye #weavingtechnique #weaving #upcyclingfashion #sustainableconsumption #aestheticnourisment #aestheticsustainability #aestheticdecay #longevity #durability #resilience #slowdesign #slowfashion

This is what I missed the most about living in Bali. The fusion between indoors and outdoors. The feeling of always being outside even when you are inside. Falling asleep to the sounds of frogs, geckos and cicadas. And waking up to hazy sunlight and singing birds. Working at my indoor-outdoor desk and eating dinner under the tall palm trees. To me one of the greatest luxuries is to never be restricted by walls. #theimmaterialist #outdoors #openness #openlivingroom #openliving #naturebliss #palmtrees #green #morning #junglehouse #jungleliving #bali

Jungle living 🌴 Happy Sunday ❤️ #theimmaterialist #junglehouse #jungleliving #openliving

I needed this gentle sky tonight. I needed an antithesis to the turbulent work we are living in at the moment 🙏 #theimmaterialist #sunset #jungleliving #grateful #antithesis #turbulence

The Uncultivated writing project continues:

Balinese ceremonies 🙏 Coming from a culture like my northern European one where religion and spirituality is next to nonexistent these ceremonies could feel like a culture shock. But how I appreciate the gratitude, the humbleness, the slowness and the beauty. Taking the time to say thank you, to pray and to be present and still is nourishing - I can feel it in my bones and my soul. Especially at times like these #theimmaterialist #bali #ceremony #grateful #bliss

Back in my open office and slowly moving on with my new book project; Uncultivated. It feels amazing sitting here again. At the moment there is a blessing ceremony taking place in my neighbouring house and I can hear bells and chanting mixed with the sounds of wind blowing in the palm trees, chickens, birds, dogs and goats. Very special and very inspiring 🙏💛

Home sweet home 🙏🏻❤️🌴

Anti-trendy living is a celebration of the chorus of the daily hymn; the repeatedly catchy part of a melody that creates coherence. A life without a chorus is like a box of disjointed marvels: it might be sparkly and pretty, but it lacks nourishing consistency.

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