Have you come across the beautiful concept of Kintsugi? We adore and appreciate it, and as we like to do, wanted to share with you. What do you see that needs repair? When you go through something, you grow through something, and you are changed. How can you celebrate this beautiful resilience?
Kintsugi: the art of precious scars, by STEFANO CARNAZZI
The Kintsugi technique suggests and highlights many things.
+ We shouldn’t throw away broken objects.
+ When an object breaks, it doesn’t mean that it is no longer useful.
+ We can try to repair things … sometimes in doing so we obtain more valuable objects.
+ The essence of resilience.
+ Each of us have the opportunity to look for various (and new) ways to cope with traumatic events + We can turn “negative” experiences into positive ones.
+ Receive the lesson that repairing and recovery contributes to our authenticity and uniqueness.
FLICKWERK: THE AESTHETICS OF MENDED JAPANESE CERAMICS, BY CHRISTY BARTLETT
Kintsugi (golden joinery”), also known as kintsukuroi, “golden repair”), is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum; the method is similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise
As a philosophy, kintsugi is similar to the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect. Japanese aesthetics 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. The philosophy of kintsugi can also be seen as a variant of the adage, “Waste not, want not”.
Kintsugi can relate to the Japanese philosophy of mushin (“no mind”), which encompasses the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change, and fate as aspects of human life.
Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated… a kind of physical expression of the spirit of mushin….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 as mono no aware, a compassionate sensitivity, or perhaps identification with, [things] outside oneself.
We also encourage you to listen to Rise & Shine’s Adrienne Gold Davis share about this beautiful concept in this first episode of Project Give Back Connects (8:50).
