KINTSUGI: The art of precious scars.

 

Kintsugi

( or Kintsukuroi, which means “golden repair” or “golden joinery” ) is the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a special lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Beautiful seams of gold glint in the cracks of ceramic ware, giving a unique appearance to the piece.

 

Life breaks all of us. 

We fall.

We shatter.

We chip.

We crack.

Fissures and fault lines.

Our human porcelain breaks apart.

Pour gold into the cracks. 

Pour gold into others. 

Let others pour gold into you. 

 

This repair method celebrates each artifact’s unique history by emphasizing its fractures and breaks instead of hiding or disguising them. Kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful than the original, revitalizing it with new life.

 

Celebrate your life. 

Don’t hide it. 

Be vulnerable. 

Show your broken parts. 

Share your failures. 

Be proud of your struggles,

your addictions,

your obstacles. 

Fill those broken sections.

Repair the shame, the guilt,

the self-loathing,

the internal negative talk 

with golden joinery.

Heal.

Revitalize.

Be beautiful.

 

By repairing broken ceramics its possible to give a new lease of life to pottery that becomes even more refined thanks to its “scars”. The art of Kintsugi teaches that broken objects are not something to thrown away.

 

Be thankful for your scars. 

Be grateful for your broken.

Don’t deny your hurt.

You can’t throw yourself away.

Stop trying.

You are not garbage.

.

 

Every repaired piece is unique, because of the randomness with which ceramics shatters and the irregular patterns formed that are enhanced with the use of metals.

 

Randomness

is part of the human experience.

Why did I get cancer?

Why did my husband leave me?

Why did that drunk driver

hit my car?

Why did his heart stop?

It shatters our spirit,

our mind and our bodies.

No two people

deal with the same event

the same way.

Unique patterns that show

our experience and the true beauty

of our strength.

Our medal.

 

As a philosophy, Kintsugi can be seen to have similarities to the Japanese philosophy of Wabisabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect. 

 

We are flawed.

We strive for perfection.

Endless inner criticism

over our perceived or real failures.

That process itself can cause

more spider web like  

fractures and breaks.

Self inflicted gun shots

to the fragile substance called us.

Accept our flaws.

Accept imperfection.

Strive for perfectly flawed.

Embrace and display

our stunning,

honest and vulnerable self.

 

Kintsugi can relate to the Japanese philosophy of “no mind” (mushin), which encompasses the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change, and fate as aspects of human life.

 

Not being attached to ideas

of what we are 

or what we think we should be.

Created by others 

or by our judging mind.

Accept the universe

and life is change.

That our lives

cannot sit on a shelf in perfection.

Fate knocks us down.

Life knocks us down.

We knock us down.

We knock each other down.

We are delicate.

 

Our lives are the fine art

of beautiful repair.