Repair work (right) onMishima warehakeme-type tea bowl with kintsugi gold lacquer, 16th centurySmall repair (top) onNabeshima ware dish withhollyhock design, over-glaze enamel, 18th century,Edo period
Kintsugi (Japanese:金継ぎ,lit. 'golden joinery'), also known askintsukuroi (金繕い, "golden repair"),[1] is theJapanese art of repairing brokenpottery by mending the areas of breakage withurushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powderedgold,silver, orplatinum. The method is similar to themaki-e technique.[2][3][4] As aphilosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.[5]
Lacquerware is a longstandingtradition in Japan[6][7] and, at some point, kintsugi may have been combined withmaki-e as a replacement for other ceramic repair techniques. While the process is associated with Japanese craftsmen, the technique was also applied to ceramic pieces of other origins including China, Vietnam, and Korea.[8]
Kintsugi became closely associated withceramic vessels used forchanoyu (Japanese tea ceremony).[3] One theory is that kintsugi may have originated when JapaneseshōgunAshikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged Chinesetea bowl back toChina for repairs in the late 15th century. When it was returned, repaired with simple metal staples, it may have prompted Japanese craftsmen to look for a moreaesthetically pleasing means of repair.[2] On the other hand, according to Bakōhan Saōki (record of tea-bowl with a 'large-locust' clamp), such "ugliness" was considered inspirational and Zen-like, as it connoted beauty in broken things. The bowl thus became highly valued due to the large metal staples, which looked like alocust, and the bowl was named'bakōhan ("large-locust clamp").[9]
Collectors became so enamored of the new art that some were accused of deliberately smashing valuable pottery so it could be repaired with the gold seams of kintsugi. It is also possible that a pottery piece was chosen for deformities it had acquired during production, then deliberately broken and repaired, instead of being trashed.[2]
Goryeo wine ewer with spout and handle repaired with gold lacquer by a Japanese collector in the early 20th century.
As a philosophy, kintsugi is similar to the Japanese philosophy ofwabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect.[10][11] Japaneseaesthetics values marks of wear from the use of an object. This can be seen as a rationale for keeping an object around even after it has broken; it can also be understood as a justification of kintsugi itself, highlighting cracks and repairs as events in the life of an object, rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage.[12] The philosophy of kintsugi can also be seen as a variant of the adage, "Waste not, want not".[13]
Kintsugi can relate to theJapanese philosophy ofmushin (無心, "no mind"), which encompasses the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change, and fate as aspects of human life.[14]
Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated... a kind of physical expression of the spirit ofmushin....Mushin is often literally translated as "no mind," but carries connotations of fully existing within the moment, of non-attachment, of equanimity amid changing conditions. ...The vicissitudes of existence over time, to which all humans are susceptible, could not be clearer than in the breaks, the knocks, and the shattering to which ceramic ware too is subject. This poignancy or aesthetic of existence has been known in Japan asmono no aware, a compassionate sensitivity, or perhaps identification with, [things] outside oneself.
— Christy Bartlett,Flickwerk: The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics
There are a few major styles or types of kintsugi:
Crack (ひび), the use of gold dust and resin orlacquer to attach broken pieces with minimal overlap or fill-in from missing pieces
Piece method (欠けの金継ぎ例); if a replacement ceramic fragment is not available and the entirety of the addition is gold or gold/lacquer compound
Joint call (呼び継ぎ), the use of a similarly shaped but non-matching fragment to replace a missing piece from the original vessel creating apatchwork effect[15]
The key materials of kintsugi are:ki urushi (pure urushiol-based lacquer),bengara urushi (iron redurushi),mugi urushi (a mixture of 50%ki urushi and 50% wheat flour),sabi urushi (a mixture ofki urushi with two kinds of clay), and a storage compartment referred to as afuro ("bath" in Japanese) where the mended pottery can rest at 90% humidity for between 2 days to 2 weeks as theurushi hardens. Traditionally, a wooden cupboard and bowls of hot water were used as thefuro. Alternatively, thick cardboard boxes are sometimes used as thefuro as they create a steady atmosphere of humidity or large vessels filled with rice, beans, or sand into which the mended pottery is submerged.[12][16]
Kintsugi is the general concept of highlighting or emphasizing imperfections, visualizing mends and seams as an additive or an area to celebrate or focus on, rather than absence or missing pieces.
Modern artists and designers experiment with the ancient technique as a means of analyzing the idea of loss, synthesis, and improvement through destruction and repair or rebirth.[17] Through an artistic lens, a Kintsugi object is permanently both evidence of crisis and cure.[18]
Examples of contemporary artists and designers who incorporate kintsugi techniques, aesthetics, and philosophies in their work include:
British artist Charlotte Bailey, who was inspired by kintsugi to createtextile works involving the repair of broken vases; her practice involves covering the shards with fabric and stitching them back together using gold metallic thread.[20]
American artistKaren LaMonte, who creates monumental sculptures of women’s clothing worn by seemingly invisible human figures; when a kiln explosion broke a number of these works, LaMonte used kintsugi techniques to repair the ceramic sculptures with gold.[21][22]
New York designer George Inaki Root, who worked with Japanese artisans to create a line for his jewelry company Milamore entitled "Kintsugi"; Root toldForbes that the designs were inspired by themes of beauty and brokenness, and his longstanding connection to kintsugi philosophies.[23]
Los Angeles artist Victor Solomon, who was inspired by kintsugi practices and philosophies to create "Kintsugi Court", a fractured public basketball court in South Los Angeles he repaired with gold-dusted resin. The project was finished in 2020 to coincide with the restart of theNBA season, which had been paused due to theCovid-19 pandemic.[24][25]
Staple repair is another technique used torepair broken ceramic pieces,[26] where small holes are drilled on either side of a crack and metalstaples are bent to hold the pieces together.[27] Staple repair was used in Europe (in ancient Greece, England and Russia among others), South America,[28] and China as a repair technique for particularly valuable pieces.[27]
Yobitsugi (meaning "invite connection"[29]) is similar to kintsugi, except that pieces from visibly different broken objects are put together,patchwork-style, to form one whole one, e.g., pieces of a blue plate to repair a white plate.[30]
Tomotsugi is similar, but uses broken pieces taken from matching objects, e.g., if two matching plates have been broken, some of the pieces can be combined to form a single plate.[31]
^"Celadon porcelain bowl, named Bakōhan".e-Museum - National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties. National Institutes for Cultural Heritage.Archived from the original on August 23, 2023. RetrievedApril 2, 2023.
^Elman, Leslie Gilbert (July 2019)."Monumental Femininity"(PDF).Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine.Archived(PDF) from the original on August 23, 2023. RetrievedNovember 4, 2021.
^Fasolino, Chris (February 2021)."World of Glass".Vero Beach Magazine: 142.Archived from the original on August 23, 2023. RetrievedNovember 4, 2021.
Media related toKintsugi at Wikimedia Commons
