Well it seems there is a lot of interest in Kintsugi and in particular a lot of interest in Kintsugi in Adelaide.
Which is good as it has brought you to my website to discover more.
I love Kintsugi!
Kintsugi is part of Japanese culture. The word is actually two words – kin meaning gold and tsugi meaning join, joining, subsequent or successor. I recently heard tsugi described as connected to the world or a generation.
I found this description of it in an article by Tiffany Ayuda - Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold — built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections, you can create an even stronger, more beautiful piece of art. Every break is unique and instead of repairing an item like new, the 400-year-old technique actually highlights the "scars" as a part of the design. Using this as a metaphor for healing ourselves teaches us an important lesson: Sometimes in the process of repairing things that have broken, we actually create something more unique, beautiful and resilient.
While both concepts are appealing, I’m drawn to the idea of being connected to a generation or the world.
I’ve had a number of people come to me with broken treasures – some not so little.
The first was a friend with a beautiful little tea cup given to her by her mother.
Then Sue who had two very old large platters that belonged to her grandmother that were broken years ago. She could not bear to part with the pieces, which have been in a box for many years.
Claire who had a cheese cloche with broken handle and a chipped pottery plate.
Gabrielle with something complete different – a turquoise and silver ring – the turquoise had broken away and had left some big cracks in the stone.
Also recently Ashley with a large pottery bowl smashed in transit.
You can see many of the pieces I’ve repaired on our Insta account.
I’ve had such lovely kintsugi challenges to work on.
Each of these beautiful pieces were stunning and so special to their owners. It’s been such a pleasure to fit these together to give them a renewed life.
The platters have been especially challenging as they were in so many pieces. And whilst they haven’t come together as perfectly as I’d have liked them to they are now even more special to their owners.
You can read about the special little broken tea cup I repaired as the Goose and I started our kintsugi journey. I’d really love to visit a school in Japan and study this beautiful art form with a true master hopefully it will happen in the not too distant future.
