Japanese Art Of Reparing Ceramics With Gold

Rather than disguising the breakage kintsugi restores.

Japanese art of reparing ceramics with gold.

Its beginnings are often associated with the famed tale of a 15th century japanese military ruler whose antique. The meaning of kintsugi kintsukuroi gold repair art. The translation from japanese of kintsugi or kintsukuroi means golden joinery or repair with gold where the gold powder is applied on lacquer some refer to it as kintsugi art with a metaphor of kintsugi life re birth or wabi sabi philosophy this technique transforms broken ceramic or pottery into beautiful. Poetically translated to golden joinery kintsugi or kintsukuroi is the centuries old japanese art of fixing broken pottery rather than rejoin ceramic pieces with a camouflaged adhesive the kintsugi technique employs a special tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold silver or platinum.

In the 500 year old art of kintsugi which translates more or less as joining with gold broken pottery is repaired with a seam of lacquer and precious metal. As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something. Kintsugi the japanese art of fixing broken pottery with gold kaushik patowary may 28 2014 2 comments most people would like damages to their broken items to be concealed and hidden by repair making the object look like new. But the japanese art of kintsugi follows a different philosophy.

This traditional japanese art uses a precious metal liquid gold liquid silver or lacquer dusted with powdered gold to bring together the pieces of a broken pottery item and at the same time enhance the breaks. It s called kintsugi 金継ぎ or kintsukuroi 金繕い literally golden kin and repair tsugi. Kintsugi is a centuries old japanese art of repairing broken pottery and transforming it into a new work of art with gold the traditional metal used in kintsugi. The origins of kintsugi are uncertain but it s likely that the practice became commonplace in japan during the late 16th or early 17th centuries noted louise cort curator of ceramics at the smithsonian s freer gallery of art and arthur m.

This repair technique is called kintsugi which translates as golden joinery and uses a special lacquer mixed with gold silver or platinum to fix the object in a way that highlights rather. The name of the technique is derived from the words kin golden and tsugi joinery which translate to mean golden repair. Kintsugi 金継ぎ golden joinery also known as kintsukuroi 金繕い golden repair is the japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold silver or platinum a method similar to the maki e technique.