The French Art de vivre: the Value of Imperfection
In our book “Defining the French Art de vivre: 10 structuring notions” we show that this art of living is not about a pursuit of formal perfection. Quite the opposite.
✨ Imperfection has value: it shifts our gaze, unsettles us slightly, and in this imbalance reveals what escapes regularity.
✨ It gives objects and moments their irreducible singularity.
✨ It embodies a French elegance: a “coiffé-décoiffé” look, a plate set a little askew, a glance or a burst of laughter breaking the seriousness of silence.
✨ It reminds us that beauty, to remain alive, must stay fragile, shifting, elusive.
Far from smooth standardisation, the desire for imperfection feeds our taste for detail, our ability to surprise, and our instinct to create. Perhaps this is one of the most subtle keys to this very French art of living.
📖 Discover our book, the first to define this emblematic notion, in the Editions section of this blog.