Kintsugi is an old Japanese art form that is based on the notion of repair. The act of repair is specific to the idea of mending broken pottery using gold as a medium or gold-colored adhesive fluid to fix shattered objects such as vases, bowls, plates, cups, and other objects. Kintsugi is also known as kintsukuroi and has remained an ongoing practice for centuries.
Kintsugi is also thought of as a practice that combined the art of lacquerware and the concept of “beautifying” broken objects using lacquer, which was dusted or mixed with a fine gold powder.
Traditional methods of kintsugi involve mending broken pottery using a lacquer dusted or mixed with metal powders, which are also similar to the lacquer decoration method known as the Maki-e technique.
This method is useful when your broken pot or vessel is missing pieces and involves re-creating the missing pieces using either epoxy or resin to fill in the missing spaces.
The joint-call method involves selecting two broken pieces from two different ceramic vessels and combining them using your kintsugi adhesive mixture to make one unified object.
Similar to the cracked pots, the human experience is also imperfect. By holding a positive vision and seeing the “Japanese gold cracks” in all things, it is possible to avoid a victim mindset.
The concept of fate is also highlighted since many events in life can derail a person and lead one to focus on the negative aspects of life. Kintsugi thus presents a message of hope.