Ty Hyll (the Ugly House) and Wabi-Sabi
I going to presume you haven’t heard of Ty Hyll (the Ugly House) or of Wabi-Sabi. If you have? Maybe you’ll be wondering why I’ve paired a quaint old cottage, I live near, in Betws-y-Coed with an ancient Japanese tea ceremony. Because Ty Hyll has a tea shop in it you ask? No, no, no, this is not about the tea.
The Ugly House as it were, strangle translates from welsh to the Great House, I’ve heard that another suitable translation would be the Rustic House. I’d like you to hold on to that word as we go one. Doesn’t ‘rustic’ fit this centuries old valley cottage? The Oxford Dictionary puts rustic as, ‘rural’, a ‘simple and plane construction’, it even mentions some rough masonry. Ty Hyll is picture perfect for the word.
Now for this Japanese tea business, Wabi-Sabi. Its a complex entity this Wabi and Sabi, and I wont be able to do the topic justice, but I think I can give you a taste. I wont bog down on specifics but if this takes your interest i recommended Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers,
Right know you might think I’ve gone little loopy, Talking about Fetishistic simplicity and bumpy welsh cottages. Take a moment and look at Michael Coffey bowl, it is the picture above. Made with Wabi-Sabi in mind, roughness, simplicity, economy. Can you see the imperfections, aren’t both the bowl and house more intriguing and characterful for missing perfection, does perfection matter in either case? doesn’t their ugliness go full circle and make them kind of great?
"Wabi" can connote rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness. "Sabi" refers to the beauty or serenity that comes with age
