Wabi-sabi gets used loosely in furniture marketing, often to mean little more than "has visible wood grain," which undersells the actual idea.
What It Actually Means
Wabi-sabi is an appreciation for imperfection and transience, a knot in the wood or a slightly uneven grain on a piece like the Kosho Bench isn't a flaw to hide, it's evidence of a natural material.
What It Means for Buying
It means choosing furniture that will show its age honestly, rather than furniture designed to look permanently new and eventually fail trying.
The Honest Verdict
If a piece of furniture can't age gracefully, it isn't wabi-sabi, regardless of how the marketing describes it. The test is what it looks like in ten years, not on day one.
