Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers by Leonard Koren
Last updated 5 October 2026
Wabi-Sabi by Leonard Koren is the short book that brought the Japanese idea of wabi-sabi, the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete, to English-speaking readers in 1994. Koren's own site says every book on wabi-sabi since has been based on it.
The 96-page paperback from Imperfect Publishing costs £12.46 on Amazon UK, against a £17.50 cover price, and has 4.5 out of 5 from 847 ratings there. It is sold and shipped by Amazon US, so standard delivery takes about ten days. Prices and ratings were checked on 5 October 2026.
What Wabi-Sabi is about
Koren defines wabi-sabi as a beauty of things modest, humble and unconventional. He sets it against the Greek ideals of perfection that shaped Western taste, and compares it with modernism point by point: mass production against things made by hand, smooth against rough, permanent against things that wear and fade.
After that he breaks the idea into parts. There is a section on the spiritual values behind it, one on the state of mind it asks for, and one on the material qualities you can actually see: natural materials, irregular shapes, muted colours and surfaces that show their age.
The book is mostly text, broken up with black-and-white photographs of tea bowls, worn wood, rusted metal and plain rooms. You can read it in an afternoon.
Who wrote it
Leonard Koren grew up in Los Angeles and built a full-scale Japanese tea house out of scavenged materials while he was still a teenager. He later studied architecture at UCLA and, in 1976, founded WET: The Magazine of Gourmet Bathing. Through the 1980s he worked in Tokyo, writing a column for the Japanese magazine BRUTUS, and he has made books about Japanese aesthetics ever since. His full biography and the rest of his books are on Leonard Koren's own website.
Key facts
- Author: Leonard Koren.
- First published: 1994. This edition is the 2008 reissue from Imperfect Publishing.
- Length: 96 pages, with black-and-white photographs.
- Size: 14.2 by 21.6cm, about the size of a sheet of A5 paper, and 198g, a little under the weight of a smartphone.
- ISBN: 9780981484600.
- Other formats: an audiobook, £4.99 on Amazon UK.
Who it suits
It suits designers, architects, potters and anyone who makes things by hand, because it gives words to a way of judging objects that many of them already use. It is also a good starting point for anyone interested in Japanese design, and a sensible gift for someone who has heard the word wabi-sabi and wants to know where it comes from.
If you want more Japanese design on the same shelf, Sophie Walker's The Japanese Garden covers the gardens themselves, and A Dictionary of Colour Combinations Vol. 2 collects 237 Japanese colour palettes. Our Japan lover gift guide has more ideas.
The limits
This is an essay, not a practical guide. It will not tell you how to decorate a room or make a pot, and readers expecting an interiors book with colour photographs will be disappointed. Koren also writes in a spare, slightly academic style, so some sections read like lecture notes.
The UK copies are imported, so allow about ten days for standard delivery, or pay for the faster option if it is a gift with a deadline.
Where to buy it
Amazon UK sells the Imperfect Publishing paperback for £12.46, against a £17.50 cover price. The audiobook is £4.99.
Frequently asked questions
What does wabi-sabi mean?
In Leonard Koren's words, it is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. In practice that means natural materials, irregular shapes and objects that show their age and use.
How much does Wabi-Sabi by Leonard Koren cost in the UK?
It was £12.46 on Amazon UK on 5 October 2026, against a £17.50 cover price. The audiobook was £4.99.
How long is the book?
96 pages. Most people can read it in one sitting.
Is it a design or interiors book?
No. It explains the ideas behind wabi-sabi and how they differ from modernism. It does not include room schemes, shopping lists or step-by-step projects.
Is this the original edition?
The text was first published in 1994. The edition sold now is the 2008 reissue from Koren's own Imperfect Publishing.
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