With thanks to Daiwa Foundation for the funding of research in Japan in 2019 What is kintsugi ?
• kin = gold • tsugi = joining
Calligraphy by Keiko Shimoda things break
形あるもの全て壊れる katachi aru mono subete kowareru
Everything that has a shape, breaks.
Mark Tyson, Teabowl, 2015 Repaired by Catherine Nicolas, 2016-17. repair
• ‘drive to repair is universal’ • repairing the irreplaceable • affirm, not hide, the scars • it’s not ‘as good as new’ • can be more beautiful
Laetitia Pineda, Plate, 2018. Gathered clays from SW France. Repaired by Catherine Nicolas. Kintsugi…
• function
Unknown red raku-style teabowl Repaired by Natsuyo Watanabe in 2016 Kintsugi…
• function • beauty
Stephanie Hammill, Fruit Bowl, 2014 kintsugi-repaired by the artist Kintsugi…
• function • beauty • story
Raku Kichizaemon XV, Nekowaride, 1985 the origins of kintsugi Essential ingredients of kintsugi’s beginnings • ceramics • urushi (lacquer) • gold • chanoyu (tea ceremony)
With thanks to Hiroko Roberts-Taira for her research and insights into the history of kintsugi ceramics
Jōmon vessel, c.2000-1000 BCE Folk Museum of Higashimurayama urushi
Late Jōmon ware repaired and decorated with urushi and ‘glitter’, c. 1500 BCE Higashimurayama Museum Toxicodendron vernicifluum ‘Japanese sumac’ Sato Takahiko showing us urushi (Sato Kiyomatsu Shoten Company, Kyoto) gold maki-e
inrō (small ornamental stacked boxes) late 18th–early 19th century A visit to Mitamura Arisumi
Top: Teabowl broken in 1923 Earthquake and repaired by Mitamura Jihō (grandfather) Bottom: Celadon bowl repaired by Mitamura Shūhō (father) chanoyu – tea ceremony living with cracks and breaks
Matsushiro, Japan, 1966 Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images. process
‘The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.’ –Ernest Hemingway
qualities of kintsugi types of kintsugi tomotsugi
Teabowl, 17th C Korean Kintsugi repair likely 18th century Kōshosai collection yobitsugi
Teabowl, 16th century Seto bowl with Chinese porcelain sherd Eisai Bunko Museum, Tokyo yobitsugi
Teabowl, Karatsu ware, c. 1590–1630 V&A Museum yobitsugi
18th C Delft plate 20th century repair using Japanese cedar Photo: Galen Lowe yobitsugi
Suzuki Goro, Teabowl, 2009 Photo: George Bouret (Lacoste/Keane Gallery) Suzuki Goro
Photo by Mayu Suzuki not always gold
Teabowl with gintsugi repair Repair by Natsuyo Watanabe / tsugi.de lacquer alone
Teabowl unknown Raku ware workshop Edo or Meiji period Freer Gallery of Art Shikaraki tsubo with black repair Otani Shiro, 1984 Photo: Galen Lowe Art Photo: Galen Lowe Art filling in gaps and large cracks
Melon-shaped wine ewer, Korea c. 12th-13th century makienaoshi
Seto or Mino ware teabowl Muromachi period (1510–1530) Freer Gallery, Smithsonian Institution contemporary cracks & breaks
‘Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.’ --Emmanuel Kant Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono at her exhibition Fly, Warsaw, Poland, 2008 Doris Salcedo
Shibboleth, 2007 Turbine Hall, Tate Modern contemporary kintsugi the power of metaphor Kuroda Yukiko Yee SooKyung
Translated Vase Nine Dragons in Wonderland 57th Venice Biennale in the Korea pavilion, 2017. Photo by bepsy/Shutterstock.com. Paul Scott
Scott’s Cumbrian Blue(s), The Syria Series No:9, Aleppo, 2016. Decal collage and lustre on partially erased pattern. Original plate, c. 1844. Photo by Ollie Hammick Claudia Clare
Remembering Atefeh, 2011-13 Photo: Sylvain Deleu not just ceramics Rachel Sussman
Sidewalk Kintsukuroi Paige Bradley
Expansion, 2005 bronze with electricity Zoë Hillyard
Red Leaf Bloomfield Bowl, 2017 Linda Bloomfield bowl, vintage rayon fabric in popular culture Dinnerware
Siletti ‘Kintsugi’ range Clothing design
Mikah, Maxi Boho Dress with Organic Kintsugi Print Star Wars
Kintsugi helmet Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker Well-being & healing
‘…a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived.’ -Chris Cleave