Experience Kintsugi

Recognizing Beauty in Brokenness

Home » Cultural Experiences » Kintsugi

Kintsugi (golden joinery) Workshop

Kintsugi (金継ぎ) or golden joinery, also known as kintsukuroi (金繕い) 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.

As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.

Every break is unique and instead of repairing an item like new, the 400-year-old technique actually highlights the “scars” as a part of the design.

Using this as a metaphor for healing ourselves teaches us an important lesson: Sometimes in the process of repairing things that have broken, we actually create something more unique, beautiful and resilient.

Learn the basics of this ancient art in a private workshop, taught by highly-acclaimed artisans and create beauty out of breakages.

Experience available in Tokyo.