Kintsugi

Discussion Questions

• Kintsugi (“Gold Joinery”) is a Japanese technique for mending broken pottery with gold to highlight and make beautiful the imperfections. What stands out to you in these images?

• How can we apply the principles of kintsugi to our personal and professional lives?

• How can we take the teachings of Kintsugi to mend what is broken?

Reflections from #MedHumChat

“The uniqueness of the mended pieces stands out to me. Because their brokenness has been tended to, it has added beauty. They golden scars tell a story of a crossroads in their history when someone decided to offer them care.” —@OdyO11

“This is a technique that I've always loved, b/c you can repair ceramics so that you can't see the breakages, but thru kintsugi you can get a sense of a vessel's history. I esp like the contrast between gold & the rougher finishes on ceramics.” —@mcshannon17

“what stands out to me is how exquisite these are. The celebration - the exaltation - of the imperfect.” —@independence56

About this #MedHumChat

Kintsugi was paired with Mend Piece for the World, a collaborative artistic experience by Yoko Ono for a #MedHumChat on May 19, 2021 discussing the concepts of Break and Mend.

The pieces for this chat as well as their accompanying discussion questions were curated by Rebecca Omlor.

About the Artist

Kintsugi is a Japanese practice that highlights and enhances breaks to add value to the broken object.