Wabi Sabi Art Pouring Gold Into Cracks Of Ceramics

The imperfection is not hidden but highlighted.

Wabi sabi art pouring gold into cracks of ceramics.

When wabi sabi zen and mono no aware come together. Japanese kintsukuroi chawan. As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something. The meaning of kintsugi kintsukuroi gold repair art.

In 1199 a monk known as eisai returned to japan from china with plans to create japan s first zen buddhist temple. 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. They produce this theory of impermanence this beautiful celebration of imperfection known as the art of kintsugi. Wabi sabi and traditional japanese tea ceremonies.

Objects mended using the crack approach are touched up with minimal lacquer. 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. While in each case gold silver or platinum dusted epoxy is used to fix the broken pottery the techniques and finished results vary. Together the phrase literally means to be joined with gold.

The gold filled cracks of a once broken item are a testament to its history. Instead of throwing away the broken pieces of a shattered jar or vase the pieces are mended back together with gold lacquer. Shimode points out that the importance in kintsugi is not the physical appearance it is the beauty and the importance that stays in the one who is looking at the dish. 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.

This is the most common kintsugi technique and it culminates in the shimmering veins that have come to define the art form. Kin literally translates into golden while tsugi means joinery. An example of wabi sabi in creativity is the art of kintsugi where cracked pottery is filled with gold dusted lacquer as a way to highlight the beauty of its age and damage rather than hiding it. In japanese philosophy there exists the idea of wabi sabi the act of embracing the flawed or the imperfect.

Wabi sabi draws attention to the cracks in a tea cup as part of the beauty of the object. Did you catch that. When kintsugi is used to mend together broken pottery the cracks are.