Wabi Sabi Art Pouring Gold Into Cracks Of Ceramics

Wabi sabi and traditional japanese tea ceremonies.

Wabi sabi art pouring gold into cracks of ceramics.

The gold filled cracks of a once broken item are a testament to its history. Did you catch that. When wabi sabi zen and mono no aware come together. They produce this theory of impermanence this beautiful celebration of imperfection known as the art of kintsugi.

He brought with him bags of green tea seeds introducing the earliest style of tea preparation called tencha in which powdered matcha is combined with hot water in a bowl and whipped together. The meaning of kintsugi kintsukuroi gold repair art. Instead of throwing away the broken pieces of a shattered jar or vase the pieces are mended back together with gold lacquer. This is the most common kintsugi technique and it culminates in the shimmering veins that have come to define the art form.

The name of the technique is derived from the words kin golden and tsugi joinery which translate to mean golden repair. While in each case gold silver or platinum dusted epoxy is used to fix the broken pottery the techniques and finished results vary. 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. Kintsugi is the japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold built on the idea that in embracing flaws and imperfections you can create an even stronger more.

Together the phrase literally means to be joined with gold. Wabi sabi draws attention to the cracks in a tea cup as part of the beauty of the object. Kin literally translates into golden while tsugi means joinery. The imperfection is not hidden but highlighted.

As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object rather than something. 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. In 1199 a monk known as eisai returned to japan from china with plans to create japan s first zen buddhist temple. Objects mended using the crack approach are touched up with minimal lacquer.

In japanese philosophy there exists the idea of wabi sabi the act of embracing the flawed or the imperfect. 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. When kintsugi is used to mend together broken pottery the cracks are.