Article about Japanese concept "Mottainai"
for Goodpatch
Article about “Mottainai” as part of Goodpatchs conversation about a more sustainable and planet-centric design approach
For years, western countries were inspired by Japanese concepts and beliefs. Zen-Buddhism served as a basis for minimalistic design; Kaizen pushes companies to a never ending optimization, and the bento box influenced us at Goodpatch to structure our approach to project work. Of course, everyone knows the ideas of Marie Kondo.
Another Japanese concept that could inspire us to reduce our impact on the planet is Mottainai. When we look at how to do better, how to save the planet, and ultimately humanity, we tend to look for solutions through new technologies and revolutionary futuristic concepts.
Mottainai, on the contrary, draws from a long history and has been deeply rooted in Japanese culture for hundreds of years.
What is Mottainai, and why does it matter?
Mottai and nai each have their meaning. "Mottai'' refers to the Buddhist word that means the essence of things and can be applied to everything in our physical world. "-nai" for its part expresses negation. Combined, Mottainai becomes an expression of sadness over the loss of the link between two entities, living and non-living. In other words, by focusing on the essence of things, people should look beyond the throwaway culture and refer to the value a product has to them.
A famous spokeswoman of the concept was Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan professor, environmental activist, and politician. For her, the successful empowerment of women was the basis for healthy ecological politics. That is why she fought for women's rights for all of her life and eventually won the Nobel prize.
Maathai visited Japan in 2005 and learned about the 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) concept. During that time, she also came across Mottainai and was deeply impressed. For her, it expresses much more than a single word. The additional value adds to the existing concept of 3R - a "fourth R" for respect goes beyond a simple expression. Maathai understood that Mottainai goes beyond the current concepts but pays respect to what we eat, what we consume, and the things from our daily life.
The main idea to respect the worth of things we use in our daily life can be seen in Japan up to this day. Taking care of things and repairing them rather than carelessly throwing them away is common sense. "Wabi-Sabi," another aesthetic concept from Japan, adapts this way of thinking by putting value into the imperfectness of things. Signs of time are the true beauty of a product.
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Full article here
Peter Obradovic, Berlin, 2023