🎨 Art & Culture
Kintsugi: The Beauty of the Repair
Japanese ceramic tradition
Epigram Literary Guild@epigram_editorial•2 min read
Gold in the Cracks1 / 3
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold. Instead of hiding the damage, the repair traces every crack in gold, so the history of the bowl becomes part of its beauty.
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A repair does not have to pretend the break never happened.
A Legend of a Bowl2 / 3
According to a popular legend, a fifteenth-century shogun sent a cracked tea bowl away for repair and got it back held together with ugly metal staples. Japanese craftsmen looked for a more beautiful solution, and gold lacquer was the answer.
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Dissatisfaction with an ugly fix can lead to a new art form.
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