“The philosophy behind it goes much deeper than a simple artistic practice,” explains Celine Santini, author of Kintsugi: Finding Strength in Imperfection. This is an incredible metaphor for healing and recovery from adversity. Kintsugi reminds us that something can break and yet still be beautiful, and that, once repaired, it is stronger at the broken places. Translating literally as “golden joinery”, this beautiful concept from Japanese history is now considered an important art form, but also one that teaches us to embrace the beauty in our imperfections. Using precious metals, including gold, Japanese craftsmen started to bond together pieces of pottery by drawing attention to, rather than away from, the breaks, which in turn had the effect of making the break the most important part of the piece itself. Dating back to the 1400s, it was thought to be the invention of Japanese shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, who charged his craftsmen with finding a more thoughtful, aesthetically pleasing way of fixing a broken tea bowl, rather than the traditional method of using ugly metal staples. Kintsugi is the ancient art of fixing broken pottery with gold. Like the golden fault lines running through kintsugi, just as we are broken, we can be repaired - and the manner of that repair, the learning in that growth, becomes a strong and beautiful part of who we are. The ancient Japanese art of kintsugi - which repairs broken ceramics with gold to make them stronger and more beautiful - has become a powerful metaphor for self-development.
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