There was one session where we tidied the shelf in the workshop again. There were eight things on it, and picking each one up in turn, we realised only three were used regularly. The other five had all been bought because they could do many jobs at once, and precisely for that reason none of those jobs was done well enough for us to reach for them every day.
The phrase just enough at ZUNGZA was born from tidying shelves like that. For us, just enough means each piece takes on one job, does that job kindly, and then does it for many years. One cup to hold a candle. One tray to hold the keys. One bottle of perfume for one mood. Fewer jobs usually last longer.
A piece that does many jobs usually makes the mind do extra work
What multi-purpose things take from us is rarely money; they take attention. Each time you use one, you have to choose a mode, remember which way to flick it, think about how you are using it today. Those tiny decisions add up over a day, and by evening our tiredness usually comes from here rather than entirely from work.
So when we make a candle jar, we try to leave you with nothing to decide. The cotton wick is trimmed to the right height for the first lighting, so you open the lid and light it. The rim of the cup is worked out to match the diameter of the wax, so the flame finds its own rhythm. Soy wax blended by ZUNGZA needs about fifteen minutes for the wax surface to heat evenly, and after that all you have to do is sit there.
Proportion is where we work most carefully. A cup one centimetre taller changes the flame, changes the scent, changes even the way it stands on the table. We test again and again until the cup looks as though it always had to be that way, with not one line too many, and nothing missing where the hand wants to rest.
Just enough is a subtraction that is never finished
We find that adding is quick while taking away is slow. Adding one decorative detail takes an afternoon. Removing one detail and still having the piece stand can take a whole season. That subtraction asks you to understand very clearly what the piece is for, because only in understanding clearly do you dare to remove.
Each time something is removed, the piece becomes lighter, is made more neatly, and the beauty left is the beauty of form without needing ornament. We are still in the middle of that, not finished, and perhaps never finished, because every craft is like that.
The lovely thing is that this phrase just enough does not stay in the workshop. Many of you message us that from one candle jar you went on to tidy the table, then the cupboard, and then found the room grown wider without having to move house. Hearing that makes us glad, because the object did its job properly.
A few questions you often send us
What does just enough mean at ZUNGZA
It means each piece does only one thing and does it for a long time, the form kept neat by its function, and we remove whatever the piece still lives well without.
Why do ZUNGZA pieces have so few decorative details
Because we let the beauty sit in proportion, in material and in the true surface of the material. That way lasts longer, and the piece grows more beautiful the more it is used.
Where do I begin with buying less
Try choosing one small place only, such as the top of your desk, and keep what you have used in the last seven days. That rhythm will spread to the other places by itself.
If this suits you, read more about the story of using up, using long, using again, how three cups learn their forms from the mountains, and the things we are preparing for the ways of a household.