Restraint as Decoration
In a wabi-sabi room, restraint is not the absence of decoration. It is the decoration, and it is harder to keep than to install.
Yassine
Yassine runs The Patina Journal, carrying forward the eye of his father, Houssine, who spent forty years in the antiques trade in Casablanca. Read the story.
Inside a Restored Georgian Townhouse in Bath
Georgian proportion is the reason these rooms still work, and the best restorations are the ones where it is hard to say what was done.
1948: The Rise of the Sideboard
Page after page of sideboards in a 1948 catalogue, and what that tells us about the room they were built for.
Brass, Oak and Linen: A Palette That Ages Well
Three materials that survive every change in fashion, because all of them age in the same direction and none can be faked.
One Sitting Room, Forty Years Apart
Two undated photographs of what appears to be the same room. What stayed, what went, and how domestic space actually changes.
Bedrooms That Get Darker, Not Brighter
The instinct is to lighten a dark bedroom. The problem is usually that it is dim, which is a different fault with the opposite cure.
Upholstery Notes in a Steady Hand, 1962
A working notebook of upholstery jobs and a set of pinned swatches. The least decorative object in the archive, and one of the most useful.
Six Chairs Worth Restoring
Six mismatched chairs, six different problems. What actually determines whether an old chair is worth the time.
Complete Guide to Japandi and Wabi-Sabi
Where the two traditions meet, where they differ, the materials that matter, and how to keep a pared-back room warm.