Kinstugi
Kintsugi literally means ‘to join with gold’.
kin = golden tsugi = joinery
Belonging to the Zen ideals of wabi-sabi, it dates back to the 1300s in Japan when a Japanese Shogon broke his favourite tea bowl and sent it off for repair, only to have it come back with unattractive staples. And so was born Kinstugi, the art of repairing broken ceramics with lacquer inflected with a very luxuriant gold powder.
Rather than disguise the damage or wear and tear of an item, Kintsugi embraces the life of an object and breathes new life into it by making it’s repair a work of art. In a time that worships youth and newness, it’s refreshing to find an approach that honours an object or products journey, valuing the resources that went into making it and creating something of beauty.
Everything old can be new again – we like!