The jewelry shows off how gorgeous some Japanese words can be.
One of the most interesting aspects of learning a new language is discovering words that don’t have equivalents in your native tongue. Japanese has plenty of unique words we’d love to import into English, and even English has some pretty good unique words too, like “serendipity” or “petrichor.”
And the London-based artist Minimalist Things has recently turned these unique words into an art form by bringing the words, their language of origin, and meaning all together in custom-made necklaces.
▼ Here’s one with the Japanese word “wabi-sabi” (侘び寂び),
an aesthetic that values the simple, subdued, and imperfect.
▼ Another Japanese one: the word “komorebi” (木漏れ日),
meaning “sunlight filtering through the leaves of trees.”
▼ And there are plenty of other languages with cool words too,
like “hyggelig” from Danish, the winner for coziest word in the world.
▼ Here’s “toska” from Russian,
which we have to say feels very Russian.
▼ Maybe you’re feeling a bit of a “duende” yourself
looking at all these cool works of art?
▼ The single Brazilian Portugese word “cafuné” sounds
a lot sweeter than that long English phrase.
If you’d like an untranslatable necklace of your own, Minimalist Things is currently “taking a short break,” most likely filling orders for people who want some of their awesome work. But be sure to check back and perhaps suggest some favorite “untranslatable words” of your own.
Source: Etsy/MinimalistThings via fubiz
Images: Etsy/MinimalistThings, Pinterest/Minimalist Things