What is the right way to live? Everyone wants to be a King – balanced, calm and relaxed. But is that possible? The world is full of mice that gnaw at roots and toads that block the water to fountains. Our society is based on performance, so anyone that doesn’t work has no value. On top of that, there’s the irritating temptation of the world of commodities. But you don’t have to own everything in order to be considered successful or happy. If a fairy godmother were to appear and offer to grant three wishes, very few people would be able to decide which ones. Then there’s the constant angst-inducing news reports: coronavirus, war, climate change. Life is not easy. How much energy is expended just to find the best energy provider alone?

Perfection is fleeting, so we need to see the beauty in the imperfect – that’s how the Japanese live with their philosophy of wabi-sabi, according to which all things are charming, even those with flaws. But it hasn’t been possible to carry this idea over to people, because in the land of the rising sun, it’s still business as usual: pressure, perfectionism, success …

Wabi-sabi, finding beauty in imperfection, is a Japanese concept of aesthetic values that we really like and wish to embrace in this spring issue 2020 of THE Stylemate magazine. We have once again put together a selection of many beautiful things for you to enjoy, some of which are virtually perfect, while others are so interesting that that could be deemed as their version of beauty. Grab your copy!