Japandi: between Nordic and Japanese design

Tretyakova Mariya Sergeevna ORCID: 0000-0001-7385-6609 PhD in Art History Associate Professor; Department of Graphic Design; Ural State University of Architecture and Art Karl Liebknecht str., 23, Sverdlovsk region, Yekaterinburg, 620075, Russia mashanadya@gmail.com Other publications by this author     Kazakova Natal'ya Yur'evna ORCID: 0000-0003-0006-1412 Doctor of Art History Professor; Department of 'System Design'; A.N. Kosygin Russian State University 1 Malaya Kaluzhskaya str., Moscow, 119071, Russia Kazakova-nu@rguk.ru Other publications by this author

Kravchuk Svetlana Gennad'evna ORCID: 0000-0002-9239-817X PhD in Art History Head of the Arctic Design Laboratory; Ural Federal University 41 Lenin Street, Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk region, 620000, Russia svetlana_usenyuk@mail.ru

Design is, in a narrow sense, a product of the culture of modernism, and its origins can be traced back to the European rationality of the Enlightenment. However, by today, the understanding of design has greatly expanded, and different regions of the world offer different understanding of design, contributing to the "science" of design. From this point of view, it is interesting to analyze the understanding of design in the West – in the Nordic countries, and in the East – in Japan, since there has long been a connection between them.

As noted by M. Gelfer-Jorgenson, author of the book "The Influence of Japan on the Art and Design of Denmark, 1870-2010" (2013), furniture by designers such as Hans Wegner and Finn Juhl is now produced in Japan itself or in China for Japan ^{[1, p. 30]}, that is, it is in great demand in the Japanese market. It should be added that today the "japandi" trend is actively advancing in the West, which is also the result of the joint work of designers from Japan and the Nordic countries, which makes it all the more relevant to compare the design cultures of these countries.

The aim is to identify similarities and differences in the understanding of design in Japan and the Nordic countries based on the analysis of the "japandi" trend.

The research is based on a comparative method, which involves comparing design in different countries in the context of geographical features, social and economic processes of the past and present. Design in the Nordic countries is studied by K. Fallan, N. Skou and A. Munk, a team of Japanese authors who have published a collection of lectures on the Northern European interior ^[2] and others, design in Japan by A. Takehara and A. Moriyama ^[3], Kenya Hara and others. Books by A. and P. Toromanoff, L. Ritbergen and M. Snider, as well as online publications by Western and Japanese authors, are devoted to the "japandi" trend.

The term "japandi" is formed by combining two words – "Japan" and "Scandinavia". So far, books in the coffee table book format and other non-scientific publications are mainly devoted to him. According to A. and P. Toromanoff, "japandi" is the latest trend based on the "striking similarity" between Northern European design and traditional Japanese craft, despite the "geographical distance" between these countries and the different way of life within them ^{[4, p. 6]}. According to the same authors, the similarity between the two design traditions lies in "attention to decoration, to detail", in "simple enduring forms, often inspired by nature", in the use of "soft muted colors", "natural materials", as well as in commitment to "responsible" design (sustainable design) ^{[4, p. 6]}. Although, as Japanese authors rightly point out, "japandi" is a trend that emerged in the early 2020s in the West, rather than in Japan ^[5], this makes it more "Western".

Let's analyze the similarities between Japanese and Northern European design based on various authors, including N. Skou and A. Munch, who wrote the article "New Northern European Design and Scandinavian Retro: a reassessment of Values and aesthetics of modern Northern European Design" (2016), where they formulate four key words characterizing Northern European design: "north" [of Europe] (nordic), "nature" (nature), "models" [of public welfare] (models), and "minimalism" (minimalism) ^[6].

1. The specifics and understanding of design in the Nordic countries

To begin with, let's clarify the difference between the concepts of "Scandinavian" and "Northern European" design. Although geographically only Sweden and Norway are located on the Scandinavian Peninsula, Denmark is also considered to be one of the Scandinavian countries, since the peoples of these countries have a common origin and similar languages. However, when Finland and Iceland are added to these countries, it is more correct to speak not about "Scandinavian", but about "Nordic" design, or about the design of the Nordic countries. The Scandinavians themselves also note that the word "Scandinavian" also has a political connotation and refers to the "Scandinavian welfare system" ^[6].

Iceland was ruled by the Norwegians and Danes for a long time, and the Icelandic language also belongs to the Scandinavian (North Germanic) group, although due to its geographical remoteness, culture developed separately here. As for Finland, although Finnish is not a Scandinavian language, there are two official languages: Swedish and Finnish, since the country was ruled by Sweden in the Middle Ages. The commonality of culture, language, and religion (Protestantism) allows us to consider all five countries as a single region.

The cultural and ideological unity of these countries, however, was embodied in different ways in design products: while Sweden, Norway and Finland were primarily known for their porcelain, textiles and glass, Denmark was considered the leading representative of furniture design. It is important to note that the "Scandinavian" or "Northern European" design as a market phenomenon was purposefully constructed in the 1950s outside these countries (and primarily in the USA), although with the active participation of their governments. Actions to promote Scandinavian design ranged from thematic publications in leading American interior design magazines (Interiors, House Beautiful) and the large-scale traveling exhibition "Design in Scandinavia" (1954-1957), which toured the United States and Canada ^[7], to the establishment of a special award for outstanding Scandinavian representatives of the profession, known as the Lunning Awards The Prize is a kind of analogue of the Nobel Prize in Design, awarded in the period from 1951 to 1970 (founder: Frederick Lunning, a Danish–American businessman, head of the New York agency of the Danish jeweler Georg Jensen). However, this artfully and artificially created history of Scandinavian design eventually led to a "disturbingly narrow understanding of Scandinavian design culture" ^{[8, p. 1]}, limited by such characteristics as human–centricity, democracy, organicity, and even "blondness" ^{[8, p. 4]}.

1) “Nordic” and “Nature": the balance of nature and culture

"Nordic” is a connection with the northern nature, climate, as well as the history and national identity of the Northern European region. In the post-war period, the Nordic countries saw in the Scandinavian welfare system a harmonious "middle way" between the extremes of the countries participating in the Cold War, that is, between the capitalist and socialist systems, as well as a balance between the "capitalist pop culture" and the "cold inhumanity" of Central European modernism, between nature and culture ^[6].

Northern Europe is a diverse but generally harsh landscape: a long Arctic coast, mountains and volcanoes, winds and rains. It is believed that people living here are used to overcoming difficulties, and this is reflected in the local material culture – in the tradition of creating things whose main qualities are usefulness and durability. Even today, the countries of this region are characterized by "long-lived" goods (long-sellers), that is, the overproduction of successful models, as well as the constant improvement of existing samples, rather than the design of fundamentally new ones ^{[2, pp. 12-13]}.

Throughout its history and until relatively recently, until the middle of the twentieth century, most of the Scandinavian population was engaged in fishing and farming, and their daily existence directly depended on high–quality tools. It is generally believed that things of Scandinavian or Northern European design are not only practical in terms of formal and functional characteristics, but their creation itself is associated with the use of local resources: from inspiration from the surrounding nature to responsible and rational use of natural materials.

However, it should be noted that the reliance on the craft tradition in this region is associated not only with specific natural and climatic conditions, but also with cultural and historical development. So, according to the Japanese authors, due to the fact that industry was poorly developed in the Nordic countries in the first half of the twentieth century, designers aspired not so much to be the first in their industry, surviving in a competitive struggle, as to be generalists and be able to do everything themselves: to work manually and produce products industrially. The good side of this approach was the desire to make consumer goods in such a way that they had the feeling of things made by hand, attention to detail ^{[2, p. 11]}.

However, the attitude towards traditional culture in Northern European design is specific: "the values of tradition are best preserved through the renewal of forms," that is, it is necessary to "change in order to preserve" and "only by accepting tradition can designers free themselves from its shadow" ^[6]. We can say that the designer does not improve or modernize the shape of a traditional thing, but recreates the path that the thing went through, being born in the head and hands of an artisan. And if the working environment for this thing and the user's needs in this environment have remained the same, the thing turns out to be "traditional": a knife, an axe, a chair, a cup, etc. For this reason, the tradition in Northern European design exists rather as a "background", since there is no goal to follow it exactly – the traditional form reproduces itself through solving certain tasks in accordance with the existing conditions and needs of people.

2) “Welfare models”: the desire to create a welfare society

Many researchers of Scandinavian design point to its social orientation, the orientation of "the best for the majority" ^{[9, p. 202]}. High–quality inexpensive items are the "ethical principle of Scandinavian design."

As V. B. Studentsov notes, the nature and character of the Scandinavian model of the welfare state (and, consequently, socially oriented design) in principle "cannot be understood without taking into account the influence of Lutheranism." He points out that Lutheranism was associated "with conscious obedience to the dual authority of God and the State" ^{[10, p. 181]}, and this contributed to the formation of a trusting attitude of the people towards the state. "Having passed through the centuries–old school of Lutheranism, the Scandinavian peoples are law-abiding to the point of pedantry," he writes. At the same time, the Reformation (during which Protestantism arose) everywhere subordinated the church organization to secular authority, and pastors found themselves in the "position of officials, hired servants of the state" ^{[10, p. 182]}. Thus, the Lutheran clergy combined "the spiritual and secular (official) authorities in one person" ^{[10, p. 184]}.

One of the most important tenets of Lutheranism is "people are born to work," which is why work in the region has acquired the status of "God's work." Although Luther recognized social inequality, he condemned the "desire to make a profit," believing that "instead of accumulating money, Christians should work for the community," "anyone who wants to serve God can and should do so through serving others through their worldly activities," conscientiously fulfilling their duties ^{[10, p. 185]}.

Lutheran concern for "fellow human beings" was "most vividly" expressed in Luther's struggle against poverty ^{[10, p. 186]}. The merit of Lutheranism was precisely the fact that the fight against poverty in the region began to be perceived as a zone of responsibility of the entire society and the state ^{[10, p. 187]}. Thus, today, even in the context of a decline in people's religious consciousness, Lutheranism has found a "secular expression" in the "Lutheran socialism of welfare states" ^{[10, p.189]}.

The Scandinavian design model is characterized by a desire for what is commonly called "co-design" (from "co-operative design", that is, "collaborative design"). From the point of view of Northern European designers, it is necessary to stop considering each person as a passive "consumer of design", it is important to help him become a participant and creator of his environment. Thus, design here is "a form of creative activity of people, in which the multiplication of the creative resource of specially trained professionals occurs on the basis of mass involvement in the work of those for whom the creation of a new is an important part or way of life" ^{[11, p. 18]}.

As you know, the modern "participatory design" is based on the ideas of co-design developed by the Nordic countries in the 1960s and even earlier. In the mid-1980s, these ideas penetrated the United States, and then spread around the world. As O. Kempkens writes: "In the 1960s, American designers tried to separate themselves from engineers and scientists, while their Scandinavian colleagues tried to involve everyone in the discussion of design" ^{[12, p. 27]}.

It should be added to this that one of the key words of Danish design today is "hygge", that is, "comfort" ^{[4, p. 22]}, and Swedish – "moderation" by "lagom" ^{[4, p. 26]}. As noted by A. and P. Toromanoff, the understanding of hygge "is still often narrowed down to wrapping up in long winter evenings," but hygge is broader, and "should be understood as a gentle therapy," when the interior of the house "forms a protective barrier against noise and excitement, in which we are immersed on a daily basis." For this reason, everything "should be designed in such a way as to promote a sense of peace" ^{[4, p. 26]}, although the love of cheerful company and holidays is also "an important part of the hygge philosophy," they write ^{[4, p. 26-27]}.

3) “Minimalism": functional simplicity of forms

According to Japanese researchers, unlike in Germany, where the architecture of neoclassicism opposed the international style and was associated with Nazism, in the Nordic countries it became a "bridge" between the styles of the past and the international style ^{[2, p. 119]}. And such a connection is quite logical, given the fact that both classicism and modernism have a common foundation in the form of Enlightenment rationality. It should be noted that the "softening" of the international style, its transformation into "humane functionalism" ^{[13, p. 144]} occurred not only by including elements of the styles of the past, but also through soft lighting, textures of fabric and wood, smooth sculptural forms, etc.

According to the main representatives of Scandinavian Art Nouveau, it was the aesthetics of minimalism that was supposed to ensure the truly popular accessibility of design products, since minimalistic forms and designs are easy to understand, and objects are easy to handle. However, in reality, the aesthetics of minimalism often turned out to be too strict and refined, the forms stripped of decor and details were too abstract, and the final products were too demanding and elitist for most consumers. In this regard, in order to ensure success in the domestic and then foreign markets, it was necessary to present things not separately, but integrated into the system of a new, more restrained and concise lifestyle (Figure 1).

It should also be noted the connection of Northern European minimalism with the aesthetics of Protestantism. Due to the fact that after the Reformation, everyone was able to build relationships with God without intermediaries – priests and the church – the monopoly of the latter was eliminated, and the "logical continuation of the fight against abuse by church functionaries" was to get rid of excesses in church decoration (Figure 2) ^{[14, p. 58]}.

In addition, Luther distinguished between false and true beauty, and Protestant theologians began to see in icons, frescoes, and temple decorations "the temptation of a false transformation of the world." Referring to A. Okhotsimsky, O. M. Kordas writes: "... the Reformation abolished the traditional sacredness of churches and sanctuaries, but opened the way to Protestant hierotopia: the sacralization of the material world as a whole as God's Creation. Admiration for nature has become a religious feeling, and domestic and everyday life has shone with an aura of new holiness" ^{[14, p. 58]}.

O. M. Kordas formulates the following features of Lutheran aesthetics: simplicity and functionality, blurring the boundaries between the sacred and profane, tolerant attitude towards a combination of religious and secular aesthetics, traditions and modern art ^{[14, pp. 59-60]}.

So, the specifics of Northern European design are based on the idea of "moderation" – a balance of nature and culture, functionalism and pop culture, design is socially oriented (including being created by common efforts, which also contributes to its "mediocrity") and, as a result, simple, but not strict in its commitment to simplicity, which makes it accessible and understandable to everyone. At the same time, design feels like a "way of life", that is, something that is rooted in everyday life, although it is important to understand that the phenomenon of Northern European design did not arise by itself, but as a result of intensive work to spread it.

2. The specifics and understanding of design in Japan

Japan is an island nation, one of the few that has never been conquered by anyone, although culturally the country has been influenced by China. For centuries, Japan remained "closed" to foreigners, which allowed it to develop and preserve its distinctive culture, including Chinese culture.

The main religions of the Japanese are Shinto and Buddhism. Shintoism is the Japanese version of shamanism, based on the cult of ancestors and the worship of nature, as well as animism, that is, the belief in the existence of spirits of trees, stones, things, etc. Shintoism is also associated with various kinds of "purification," while Buddhism is a kind of religion of peace. If we take into account the climatic features of Japan, its position in the seismically active zone, and, therefore, the abundance of earthquakes and tsunamis, and besides, typhoons, then the importance of peace in the lives of the Japanese will be quite understandable.

After the Meiji Restoration (1866-1869) and the "discovery" of Japan by Europeans, the process of "Westernization" of the country began, during which Japan was influenced by European design culture and stylistic trends (eclecticism, avant-garde, etc.). The formation of "modern (modernist) design" in Japan occurred under the influence of the West (especially Germany) in 1931-1937 (its development was spurred by the favorable economic situation due to the capture of Manchuria).

Although design appeared in Japan in the 1930s, its heyday occurred after the Second World War, when an industrial society began to take shape. At the same time, the very word "design" began to be used in Japanese. To a large extent, thanks to American investments, new technologies and related economic reforms, the Japanese post-war economy went up, and by 1968 Japan had become the second largest country in the world in terms of GDP (the so-called "Japanese economic miracle"). It was then that support for Japanese design began at the state level.

Today, Japanese design is actively supported, including within the framework of the policy of Cool Japan, the Japanese version of "soft power". This strategy of "branding Japan" was proposed in 2010 and is still developing. It aims to promote Japanese pop culture (anime, manga, etc.), food, traditional crafts and tourist attractions in the world - everything that can make the country attractive in the eyes of foreigners ^[15].

If we follow the reasoning scheme set by N. Skou and A. Munch, then we can say that today the key words of Japanese design are: "tradition", "nature", "minimalism" and "care". However, despite the coincidence of the words "nature", "minimalism" and even to some extent "caring for people" with the keywords characterizing Northern European design, it should be noted that the Japanese understanding of "naturalness", "minimalism" and "caring" differs from the European one.

1) Connection with tradition: seeing the new in the old

When people write about Japanese design in our country, it is often referred to as a combination of "tradition" and "modernity", in fact referring to the title of the exhibition "Japanese Design. Traditions and Modernity", which was held in Moscow in 1984 ^{[13, p. 188]}. The reinterpretation of traditional culture and, at the same time, the development of advanced technologies is indeed an important feature of Japanese design. Referring to the booklet from the exhibition, V. F. Runge writes: "The traditionalism of Japanese thinking prescribes the creation of the new by a kind of embedding of the new in the old ... Tradition, as it were, constantly renews itself, which removes the contradiction between it and modernity" ^{[13, p. 189]}.

With that said, it seems quite logical that the famous Japanese graphic designer Kenya Hara, instead of the American design strategy of "showing things that exist today as obsolete tomorrow", when it is necessary to constantly present "a new original product", following the development of technology, today offers a strategy of "seeing the new in the old" ^{[16, p. 13] [16, p. 24]}. As an example of this approach, he cites, for example, the projects of Shigeru Ban, known for using paper as a building material in architecture.

Speaking about the connection of Japanese design with traditional culture, it is necessary to mention its connection with decorative and applied arts and crafts. It should be noted that the Japanese are generally characterized by a respectful attitude towards work and constant honing of skills. A. and P. Toromanoff quote the words of the Japanese furniture maker Shuji Nakagawa: "The difference between sekunin's work [Japanese: craftsman] and the artist is that he creates only one object, but repeats it over and over again. This is not only my [artisan's] experience, but also what my ancestors passed on to me" ^{[4, p. 38]}. Thus, the work of an artisan is a "path" that connects him with his ancestors and implies a respectful attitude towards their work, and even a "path" in the Buddhist sense of the word (that is, ultimately the path to enlightenment).

The Japanese focus on honing their skills and continuous improvement was clearly manifested in the Japanese economic strategy "kaizen" [from Japanese, "improvement"], which involves continuous improvement of the production process, business, management, etc. This strategy became widely known in the world in the 1980s, thanks to research on the experience of companies such as Toyota, as well as books by Japanese author Masaaki Imai.

2) Minimalism as a concern for people

Although the expression "Japanese minimalism" exists in the English–speaking world, it is not used in Japanese, and the word "minimalism" itself is an Anglicism, which is understandable, because initially "minimal art" or "minimalism" was a movement in American art of the 1960s. ^{[17, p. 412]}.

Articles by Japanese authors often contain information that when the German architect Bruno Taut (1880-1938) visited Japan in 1934, he was struck by the "modernity" of the imperial villa Katsura (17th century, Figure 3), which contributed to the formation of ideas that traditional Japanese architecture is very close to functionalism. At the same time, the famous architect Sutemi Horiguchi (1895-1984) proclaimed this understanding of the Japanese tradition to be "true", and, as Hiroyasu Fujioka notes, a "dogma" was subsequently formed ^{[17, p. 418]}, in which functionalism was the only true way to rethink traditional Japanese architecture and interior design.

Figure 4 shows an example of "Japanese modernism" or, as it is called in Japan, "wa-modern" ("wa" is a prefix meaning "Japanese", "modern" モダン is short for "modernism", that is, "international style"). This trend has been actively developing in Japan since the 1960s and generally resembles "japandi" (X chairs are visible in the foreground in the photo). Wegner). So, in 2023, even a general collection of photos generated by artificial intelligence with the interiors of "wa-modern" and "japandi" was released.

Genetically related to functionalism, "Japanese minimalism" has largely become a continuation of the functionalist "dogma." Thus, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma (b. 1954), describing the modern Japanese interior in a 2012 interview, notes that today in Japan there is a strong desire to make it "minimalistic / abstract", and an important characteristic of architecture and interior is "subtlety / flatness" (lit. ususa) ^{[17, p. 417]}.

However, according to F. Bertoni, although in general the origins of minimalism in Western architecture and interior design are American "minimal art" and European rationalism, it has absorbed simplicity from different cultures, including Japanese ^{[17, p. 415]}. In turn, Western minimalism influenced Japanese. As a kind of postmodernism, conceptual minimalism came to Japan from the West, and, like functionalism before, it turned out to be consonant with the traditional Japanese aesthetics of simplification of form associated with the category of "wabi" and the principle of "shin –ge –so". He also successfully connected with the Japanese "ma" category, which was actively developing at the end of the twentieth century. Let's look at these concepts in more detail.

The aesthetics of wabi are crude simplicity, modesty, and even poverty. If we talk about the object-spatial environment, the development of "wabi" is primarily connected with the Buddhist tea ceremony and the name of the master Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591), who built tiny teahouses with dark walls and loved simple rough bowls made without a potter's wheel. As T. P. Grigorieva notes, "wabi" also has a moral meaning and is then associated with sincerity and restraint in behavior ^{[18, p. 50]}.

As you know, hieroglyphic writing and calligraphy have penetrated from China to Japan. The Japanese borrowed the concept of "shin-ge-so" from calligraphy, that is, "charter – half–post - cursive", and extended it to other areas of art: painting, garden, ikebana, tea ceremony, etc. Just as in calligraphy there is a moment of destruction of the "standard" form (charter), so in Japanese arts there is a moment of destruction, softening or simplification of the most "complete", solemn, ceremonial form, often having a Chinese basis. As a result of this "destruction" in Japanese traditional art, the Japanese type of beauty itself was formed, which is sometimes called kudzushi no bi, that is, "the beauty of destruction (or reduction) [of form]" ^{[19, p. 98]}. The principle of simplification of the shin-ge-so form and the aesthetics of wabi, along with Western functionalism, became the basis for the development of "Japanese minimalism" in the twentieth century.

In modern Japanese texts, one can often find information that in Japanese culture the concepts of "time" and "space" are indivisible, and this is reflected in the language, where both words, ku-kan – "space" and ji-kan – "time", have a common part of kan (it is the same ma), meaningfully related to both space and time. Initially, ma in architecture meant 1) the gap between two columns, 2) the measure of an area [a cell between four columns], or 3) a room, but, as the famous Japanese architect Arata Isozaki (b. 1931) wrote, today "definitions of [ma] tend to confuse the original meanings with today's ones – those that came after getting acquainted with the concepts of space and time in the West," and therefore, the concept of ma in our time has acquired the meaning of "emptiness" and has become "more abstract" ^{[17, p. 415]}.

"Japanese minimalism" is associated with the abundance of empty space, that is, with "ma". As F. Bertoni wrote, discussing minimalism: "Nothing reflects the time in which we live so well as the Japanese concept of ma, meaning an empty space, as well as the gap between one phenomenon and another" ^{[17, p. 415]}. The perception of empty, today usually white, space as a "generative" one, from which objects or images appear, is now felt as characteristically Japanese.

As far as we can tell, as the "wabi" category once was, Japanese minimalism also has a "moral meaning." In Japanese society, where it is extremely important to take into account other people's feelings and not interfere with others, minimalistic design looks like a desire not to impose one's vision, one's self, on others, that is, to take care of others.

It is significant that in Japanese, in principle, there are many words related to caring, and there are a number of expressions denoting "caring design". Thus, Japanese graphic designer Taku Sato (b. 1955) directly says that "design is a concern" (Kizukai, Japanese). It is a concern for people, for communication, communication between people or between a person and a thing to be good ^[20]. It should be noted that the theme of the connection between people, between objects and people, their "meeting" in Japanese culture often contains Buddhist overtones.

So, "Japanese minimalism" was formed under the influence of "enlightenment" Western rationality, functionalism and conceptual art, but when combined with the realities of traditional Japanese culture, it acquired its own specifics – it manifested a Buddhist perception of emptiness, contemplation, as well as an ethical moment associated with caring for others.

3) Connection with nature

At the level of spatial organization of cities and houses, the Japanese connection with nature was embodied in the concept of "oku". This principle was described in his book "The Emerging and Disappearing City – from Edo to Tokyo" (1980) ^[21] by the famous Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki (b. 1928). According to F. Maki, when building cities, instead of establishing a center, the Japanese tried to find something indefinite as the basis of the territory, and the territory had to "wrap" this fundamental "something". Thus, Japanese temples were usually located deep in the mountains, and not in the city center, as in Europe, which confirmed the idea of the importance of an invisible place. According to the same principle, the most important ceremonial rooms were traditionally located at the back of the house, rather than at the main entrance, as is often done in the West.

The famous Korean author Lee Oren (1934-1922) also wrote in the 1980s that Japanese (and Korean) culture is a "wrapping culture" ^[22]. He turned to the subject environment – screens that "wrap" space, furosiki shawls that wrap things, etc. In the 1990s, J. P. Morgan described Japan as a "wrapping culture." Hendry ^[23]. He drew attention to the desire for "wrapping" in Japanese packaging, traditional clothing, etc.

The establishment of predominantly soft restrictions rather than rigid walls in Japanese architecture allowed the interior to connect with the surrounding nature. And although the shakkei technique of "borrowed landscape" came to Japan from China, it was in Japan that it became one of the main methods of arranging living spaces. Also, as far as we can tell, the function of this technique has changed. If in Chinese gardens it was needed in order to create "paintings" that lead to other worlds, demonstrating the endless metamorphoses of existence, then in traditional Japanese houses "borrowing the landscape" opened up the opportunity for meditative contemplation of nature and unity with it.

The word "nature" in Japanese is the same as "shakkei", a Sinoism that is used as an adjective in the meaning of "natural", "natural". Japanese aesthetics, especially that part of it that developed under the influence of Zen Buddhism and the tea ceremony, is characterized by a love of natural materials and muted colors. One of the main categories of traditional Japanese aesthetics reflecting this feature has become "sabi".

If we talk about the object-spatial environment, then the development of the aesthetics of "sabi", or rather "kirei sabi", is associated with the activities of another tea master, Kobori Ensyu (1579-1647). The word "kirey" means "beautiful", "sabi" means a sense of antiquity; kirey sabi is the beauty of leaking glaze on ceramics, craquelure, stains, partially faded ornaments, etc. ^[24] (Figure 5). More broadly, as applied to the interior, kirei sabi is when a simple tea room acquires a lighter color of the walls, these are white bowls, light ornaments or sumi–e ink paintings, or when a shelf with carved decor appears in a room with black walls.

It should be noted that over the centuries of the existence of the aesthetics of "sabi", Japanese masters have mastered the aesthetics of the imperfect perfectly, having learned to subtly feel the curvature, appreciate the natural beauty and unusual defects. In an effort to reproduce the same aesthetics, European authors usually simplify, "unify" it, depriving the Japanese of "contemplation". Nevertheless, a good example of japandi is the Hibito tableware collection by S. Manz, created for the Japanese company Actus (2019) from white porcelain by the famous Japanese company Arita (Figure 7). According to the comments to the collection, "Hibito" is a combination of craft and "the quality of functional objects for everyday use" ^{[4, p. 87]}. Note that, in general, it continues the traditions of Scandinavian design and is similar to the Vasegor service of the 1950s (Figure 6).

So, Japanese design is based on a rich cultural tradition, and the creation of the new here takes place by embedding in the old, seeing the new in the old. However, the minimalism of Japanese design is due not only to the influence of Buddhism, traditional principles and categories such as "wabi", but also to the influence of Western functionalism, which in the twentieth century "cleaned up" and "highlighted" Japanese aesthetics. It is important to note that "Japanese minimalism" also has an ethical aspect related to unobtrusive self-care for others. It should also be added that it is "contemplative", which is facilitated by the traditional connection of the interior space with nature, as well as the aesthetics of "sabi", which involves the use of natural materials and the aestheticization of all kinds of cracks, spots and other "defects".

Here are examples of interiors "in the style of japandi" (Figure 8). Especially in those interiors that are modeled using a computer, including artificial intelligence, the technique of "borrowed landscape" is actively used, as well as a lot of indoor plants, which creates the feeling of a garden house. This is a beautiful concept, although it should be noted that the use of plants in a room is not typical of the Japanese tradition, since previously fragile tatami mats were always laid on the floor in the house. Also, in "japandi", the perception of nature itself is noticeably changing – it is the boundless enjoyment of nature, and not the contemplation of it between the shoji sliding partitions that limit the view. In other words, there is no beauty hidden in "japandi".

So, Japanese design is "a vision of the new in the old," and Northern European design is "design for everyone," or, as A. N. Lavrentiev wrote, "the best for the majority." And although the design in both regions strives for peace, harmony with nature and simplicity of forms, in general, Japanese design can be called "contemplative", while Northern European design can be called "moderately cozy". As for modern "japandi", it is a "moderately cozy" Japan "for everyone" (and at the keyword level, it continues the tradition of Northern European design). It is significant that the Japanese themselves write about "japandi", that it is "a style that novice specialists in Japanese interior design can easily master" ^[5].

It should be noted that the depth of philosophical study of Japanese aesthetics, as well as the constant "work for improvement" sets very high demands of the Japanese not only on the quality of products, but also implicitly on the meanings that arise around them. From this point of view, the "japandi" trend that came from the West is a simplified version of "Japanese design," although the fact that the authors of "japandi" invited Japanese designers to cooperate certainly seems promising.