WhiteIn Kenya Hara's worldview, white is not a color, but a design concept. In order to understand Hara's white we must depart from a Western way of thinking and try to connect with Japanese worldview.
Hara is not a designer who likes the color white, or one who does not use color. When he uses color he does so from a search for the representation of a particular sensation, and when he attains it, he does not use additional colors that he considers superfluous to his work.
What is white?
White is a state in which all colors have faded, a pure state, free of interference. White is tranquility, it is the absolute void, it is nothing and it is everything. White is death that is revealed in sun-bleached bones in the desert, white is the pure beginning of life embodied in the whiteness of a mother's breast milk. White exists on the boundaries of life, colors exist in life, and they are never detached from nature. All colors derive from white, and are partial appearances of it. In the world white is not pure white; it appears in thousands of shades and hues, for it is situated in material. We aspire to pure white out of empathy for everything that is beyond ephemeral in our world.
Hara is not a designer who likes the color white, or one who does not use color. When he uses color he does so from a search for the representation of a particular sensation, and when he attains it, he does not use additional colors that he considers superfluous to his work.
What is white?
White is a state in which all colors have faded, a pure state, free of interference. White is tranquility, it is the absolute void, it is nothing and it is everything. White is death that is revealed in sun-bleached bones in the desert, white is the pure beginning of life embodied in the whiteness of a mother's breast milk. White exists on the boundaries of life, colors exist in life, and they are never detached from nature. All colors derive from white, and are partial appearances of it. In the world white is not pure white; it appears in thousands of shades and hues, for it is situated in material. We aspire to pure white out of empathy for everything that is beyond ephemeral in our world.
Yasuhiro Suzuki, Cabbage Bowls
Hara bemoans the loss of Japanese sensitivity to the influence of modern life. The world is colorful chaos, and when sensitivity diminishes, life and the world become gray. The chaos, however, is not gray, but dynamic changes from which new colors constantly glimmer and which we must learn to distinguish.
White emerges from the chaos as perfection, it is not a mixture or a color, it is emptiness filled with everything that repeatedly evaporates in life's dynamic. To achieve the experience of white and colors, the senses must be trained; sensitivities must be developed in order to attain sophisticated discernment. White is the source of life to which designers should aspire to bring all of us closer.
White emerges from the chaos as perfection, it is not a mixture or a color, it is emptiness filled with everything that repeatedly evaporates in life's dynamic. To achieve the experience of white and colors, the senses must be trained; sensitivities must be developed in order to attain sophisticated discernment. White is the source of life to which designers should aspire to bring all of us closer.
Post a Comment