Kintsugi "Golden Joinery"
I have known about Kintsugi for years. When there was a boom in Skandinavian living trends years ago it came up on my radar as an action of interest and I have since known about it and agreed with its sentimental philosophy.
Kintsugi; a Japanese art, is about repairing broken pottery in a way that can be seen so that you understand it's brokenness and its history. The art is not in being able to put the piece back together perfectly but it is to use those cracks as a visual reminder that this once perfect pot has had a change and been remade into something perfect again. The cracks are used to highlight this rather than to disguise it.
Gold powder is mixed with an adhesive agent so that when you glue the pottery back together the cracks are able to be seen from the decorative gold lines that will now run through the pottery.
As with so much in Japanese philosophy, this art is a reflection on the human race. I see such a clear mirror image of life in that of the pottery, in its moment of brokenness, needing to be pieced back together again.
When all feels lost and we can't get up off the floor it is the tiny idea of light that can start to heal us. The golden warmth of the sun, of love or of quiet support that can just help us start to pick up our pieces and start to glue them back together, to make us whole again. Even with all our cracks, we have that golden love holdings us together; a marker of our journey but a reminder that we chose to be reborn and continue living.
Fixing pottery in this way not only inspires giving items another lease of life but stands as a reminder that we can try and fix what is broken. Whether that be the salt shaker in my case, or myself. Seeing this item, cracks and all, lets me know there is always opportunity to rebuild with golden joinery.
* After a soft toy was pulled from the shelf our salt shaker crashed to the floor splitting into 3 parts. I knew I would be able to fix it so I got the pieces together to practise the art of Kintsugi.
For this project I used Gorilla Glue which I mixed in a plastic container with a small amount of MICA powder. I then used a wooden lollipop stick to put along the cracks before I placed each part together. I left it to fully dry for 24 before washing the inside with a small amount of bleach and water to get rid of the adhesive smell. Once fully dried it was refilled with salt and placed back with its pepper partner.
No comments
Post a Comment