Remember when the design world fell for feng shui? Its proliferation in the West followed Richard Nixon’s state visit to China in 1972 and it didn’t take long for people to want to apply its teachings to their immediate surroundings. After all, who doesn’t want a sprinkle of harmony in their home? Since then, various design philosophies for our domestic environments have caught our attention, from Japan’s wabi sabi to Denmark’s hygge – as we all search for ways to make our homes more comfortable places to be.

At their core, these philosophies tend to respond to something that all humans need, wherever we live: access to natural light and warm, tactile materials, such as timber. Yes, there might be more of an emphasis on cosy throws and candles here or minimalism there but these particular interiors-shaping modes of thought have caught on because they speak to a desire to make our homes a calming sanctuary. So it’s not surprising that there has been a warm response to interior designer Yoko Kloeden’s novel approach, which incorporates the Japanese principle of yugen.

London-based Kloeden came to design later in life, retraining as an interior designer after years in corporate work, intense international travel and many nights spent amid bland hotel interiors. Her wish, as a designer, was to distil the particular feeling that she had experienced while seeking shade in the temples of Kyoto, her hometown.

There, she felt a sense of tranquillity that she struggled to translate into words, until she alighted on yugen, which means, roughly, a deep sense of presence and peace found in the subtle beauty of life.

But how to render this ephemeral, fleeting feeling into real-world interiors? Kloeden set out to distil five principles that help her to create balanced, calm environments for her harried clients: hikari (light), nagame (view), ma (space), shizen (nature) and taru o shiru (less is more), each one guiding her interior design choices to cultivate harmony and celebrate simplicity. “Homes should be where you can leave all your baggage at the door, completely relax and rejuvenate for the next day, without having to go to the actual temple to find that feeling,” the designer tells Monocle.

For Kloeden, senses beyond the visual, such as touch and smell, are important – as is remaining aware that the materials we come in contact with can affect how we feel. “Be on the lookout for something organic and natural, and maybe a little bit imperfect, such as timber – it smells, sounds and feels nice,” she advises. Things that are not overly polished and bear the traces of the work and care taken to make them help us to reconnect to those who came before us and to feel a little more grounded. It’s a thought that’s shared by Signe Bindslev Henriksen and Peter Bundgaard Rützou, co-founders of design studio Space Copenhagen, who work on everything from private homes to hotels and restaurants, and whose approach taps into both Scandinavian and Japanese design traditions. 

“We live in a time when things are moving so fast,” says Bindslev Henriksen. “There’s a humanist aspect to both Danish and Japanese design, which I think deeply resonates with all people; there’s a feeling that somebody cared, that somebody spent time thinking and making that detail in wood, for instance.” A few decades ago, when we were living in a more optimistic age, we were designing with new materials, adds Bundgaard Rützou. And we might do so yet again. “There is an uncertainty that defines our times and it seems that we have this longing to reach for something that feels ancient,” he says. “But it could pivot; in 10 years’ time, we might be all about a material that doesn’t even exist yet.”

In the meantime, if overhauling your entire home seems like one task too many, both Kloeden and Space Copenhagen urge you to start small. Dump the clutter, light a candle, buy a plant, embrace the imperfections and be mindful of the kind of furniture you bring into your home. As someone somewhere rightly pointed out, no doubt while stealthily shuffling their own ephemera into the recycling bin, “less is more”.