Kintsugi
for Life
Make and break
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer and powdered gold. While the technique is most closely associated with Japan, similar practices exist across other Asian cultures and date back to the 15th century.
The idea behind it is quite elegant: embrace the imperfect.
Instructors Yoshiichiro (L) and Yoshiko (R) Kuge in their studio
Inspiration: Yoshiko Kuge’s
wonderful collection of
Kintsugi items
I attended a workshop taught by Yoshiichiro and Yoshiko Kuge, two veterans of the ceramics world. I chose to repair a traditional Japanese teacup because it reminded me of a tea set my grandparents owned.
The technique I learned was a simplified version of Kintsugi completed in 3 hours.
Give me the gold
The final step was carefully tracing the newly filled and puttied areas with gold lacquer, followed by a final dusting of gold powder to seal the surface.
Rachel Ma © 2026