In one of my favorite books: the Book of Form and Emptiness, by Ruth Ozeki, one of the concepts that really spoke to me was the idea that objects speak to us all the time in our daily lives. That they have lives of their own, not only meant to serve us for what we need, but to exist of their own exigency. The exigency to remain as they are.
a magnet, pencil or book can speak to us. Since reading this book, I have learned the importance of listening to when an object speaks to me. This doesn’t mean that I’m necessarily listening to my banana waiting for it to speak, but I’m merely cognizant that each “thing” has its own beauty and significance that I often neglect and pass by without a second thought. Whenever I am in a bookstore now, I wait for a book to speak to me, and its interesting, because before when I would shop for a book, I would pick out one I would want so badly in my head even if it wasn’t feeling comfortable in my hands at that moment. It would then sit in my shelves for months; to be picked up when it finally did speak to me. In that moment, I would know that that was the right time I needed that book, for whatever reason. Funnily enough, and ironically the Book of Form and Emptiness was one of those books that stayed dusty in my shelves for around a year until I picked it up and felt its energy drawing to me.
The words fell out clumsily, whimsically and on purpose. In fact, I honestly want to go reread it right now. Another thing the book taught me was some of the teachings of Mottainai, the Japanese concept that encompasses different trains of thought and practices that embody the teaching that it is regretful to waste, to not appreciate the things that we have. This word has been around for around 800 years, and the meaning has so many different interpretations that to try to describe and define it would be like trying to explain the writings of a palimpsest!
Anyways, to be wasteful is regretful. And this can be expressed in many ways. In simple acts such as cleaning right after cooking, or repairing a pot that has been broken. Kintsugi, which means “to join with gold,” is the practice of repairing something broken of porcelain or glass with gold or silver lacquer. The idea is that we can repair something shattered that perhaps can become even more beautiful than before. Something that carries strength within its tension, through the fact that it once fell apart.
Life is like this. Nature is like this. And with clothes, we can try to give them new life too.
This past year, I honestly have had such a hard time buying new clothes. No matter what, when I go up to the register I just cannot bite the bullet. I don’t know if it’s from my concentration in university or my passions in connection with the environment, the distrust I have in clothing stores, the horrifying readings I’ve read, or something even simpler. The something simpler being the quiet notion that everything can carry a purpose, a beauty intangible even when realized in material. I know, funny to think about an old pokemon shirt with this in mind. Actually, no that pokemon shirt is awesome.
Since this was happening, I honestly wore the same outfits every single week. I wore the same cycle of clothes to work and school. And I realized, I honestly didn’t care. And hey, I still had good style I swear! Towards the end of the school year however, I did start to feel an itch to expand the way I present myself, even if it wasn’t through clothes.
Through this, I came back to Mottainai. To waste truly is regretful. I have too many clothes, I really do, even when I don’t buy more. And some of them I didn’t even wear. So, within this I decided to do something that would encompass my wish to remain strong on my quest to not buy new things but still diversify the way I dressed. I thrifted around Austin and found a few pieces that were pretty basic, pretty simple and I brought them home. I decided that I would embroider them. With the golden strings in mind within vases, glasses and pots, I wanted to thread through old shirts, pants, shorts and jackets with my own personal mark and style.
I then made modifications to my first shirt. I decided to start on pieces that I already had first. It was an old shirt I had had for a long long time, but I never really used it that much. the little cat I put on it with the heart really made me happy that day. It was such a simple happiness too, born out of creating something out of something I had but didn’t appreciate at all. that little stitch has now blossomed into something I feel so much love for!
being sustainable I think not only should tie in what we have to sacrifice, but tie in going back to things we love, or finding out what we truly love. Without so many choices, or deciding that there cannot be so many choices in order to protect the earth, we can decide what we really really value. Through trying to not add on to my personal ‘waste,’ I found something that I actually really enjoy doing. Threading the string through the fabric forces me to slow down, be in the moment and concentrate on one thing at a time. When I have finished my project, it’s the feeling of satisfaction, but also a feeling that I could always come back to it to make it speak more to myself if in the future I wanted it to. Through this, I can really see my clothes being an expression of myself! Even though I just started, I already feel much more grounded in the fact that more things doesn’t mean happiness. I think for me, its tempting to think that way.
Another thought, is that objects can also tell us they are ready to move on. Sometimes, we can let go of objects to let them have new lives with other people. Sometimes, this does make me sad, because an object can hold a lot of meaning to me even if it just served to be a presence around me. Donating books I think is the absolute hardest form of this for me!!!
Mottainai is not a stagnant thought, it is always changing but holds beliefs that are rooted in preserving and continuing to honor the earth and everything in it’s beauty. here is a little more of the things I made, maybe it will be inspiration for a person to create their own unique style and start to repurpose clothes!
I love this 🙂 I think Mottainai is something everybody should think about in their everyday to find new ways to repurpose and bring to life old things and give them new meaning. I practiced this through sashiko!