STATEMENT OF GRANT PURPOSE Example #3 - risd/careers

There exists little doubt over the gravity of the environmental crisis. I believe that
in the near future, as companies are ever more pressured by consumer awareness and
government intervention to make products sustainable, the main issue will be to find a
way to seamlessly align the interests of business, product, and sustainability. My goal is
to prove that Wabi Sabi ideals and their application in daily life can serve as a fitting
solution to the ecological predicament. I will demonstrate this by implementing
traditional Wabi Sabi principles into modern life via the creation of functional objects
designed with a strict adherence to these precepts. Though it is impossible to design Wabi
Sabi into something, as this is an essence derived through use, my line of objects will be
designed with the capacity to become Wabi Sabi, predisposed to essential
Wabi Sabi ideals. Through this fusion of old and new, the philosophical and the practical,
I will take into account new materials that fit into Wabi Sabi ideology, as well as new
processes, technologies, and applications to satisfy the needs of today’s consumers.
Through my connection with Shinrin Takumi Juku, a renowned woodworking
school in Takayama , as well as with local artisans and designers, I will design and
fabricate functional objects that will not only pay homage to Japan’s history, but merge it
together with modern needs, practices, and concepts to forge a working relationship for
the future, ensuring Japan’s rich heritage is not lost, but fully embraced and appropriately
integrated into today’s ever changing high tech society.
At Shinrin Takumi Juku, I will engage in a rigorous traditional woodworking
experience, learning new skills that will bolster my existing knowledge of woodworking.
Approved by Osamu Shoji, the head professor of the school, I will enroll as a fulltime
student during the upcoming school year. As the learning process revolves around
demonstration and then implementation by students, any language barrier can be
overcome; additionally, most professors can communicate effectively in English and
there have been many successful English-only speaking interns in past years. My
intention at Shinrin Takumi Juku is to learn a traditional skill set that will enable me to
craft my line of objects in a culturally sensitive way, and to dynamically examine
the aesthetic values of traditional Japanese woodworking. I will augment my year of
academic study with frequent trips to Tokyo and Osaka to meet with practicing designers
and design firms, and to grasp a divergent yet relevant point of view. Concurrently, I will
have access to an extensive woodshop and will execute the tangible part of my project
using the tools and machinery at my disposal.
Prior to the start of the school year, I will spend a month living at Sogenji
Monastery, a Rinzai Zen temple in Okayama, Japan. The Rinzai school of Zen is marked
by the emphasis it places on “kensho”, seeing one's true nature through enlightenment, as
well as the rigor and severity of its training methods. As I take part in serious monastic
practice, I will experience firsthand the way of life most akin to Wabi Sabi. Since its
inception as a distinct aesthetic mode, Wabi Sabi has been linked with Zen Buddhism as
it embodies many of Zen’s core philosophical principles. My connection is Daichi, an
English speaking nun at Sogenji, who is also an artist trained as a potter. I will utilize her
connections to local potters and visit the workshops and studios of these traditional
craftsmen, and to become acquainted with their artistic pursuits. I believe this experience
will deeply affect my perception and understanding of a true Wabi Sabi lifestyle, as
essentials are eliminated and I enter, even though for just a short while, a life not