What do you do when a vase or any other object falls and breaks into a thousand pieces? Usually, the logs are thrown away without thinking at all about an alternative. Throwing everything away is easier but it causes sadness. It gets lost, the broken object is hidden and perhaps it is forgotten.
Not in Japan! The shards are repaired, just like the wounds of the soul.
We have so much to learn from Asian culture that teaches us how to treasure times of sadness and uncertainty and how there can always be a positive rebirth from something that seemed terrible and incurable. The art of Kintsugi shows us that when a ceramic vase breaks, after its repair, it will be even more beautiful and precious than when it was whole and apparently "perfect". It will be a unique piece, inimitable in its realization.
According to legend, the birth of the Kintsugi dates back to around the 15th century, when some Japanese craftsmen, in an attempt to repair the beloved teacup of Ashikaga Yoshimasa, then commander of the Japanese army, realized that it would be impossible to carry out the repair. hiding the cracks in the ceramic. They then invented a unique method: using gold dust to emphasize and shine those signs - instead of trying to hide them - making the cup even more precious and, certainly, one of a kind.
Just as broken shards can be put together and form a new and unique object, so personal wounds can be healed and overcome.
Usually, using the metaphor of the locks, there is a tendency to hide pain and negative states, as well as to throw away the broken locks, a sign of disorder and defeat. But if we think about it, the difficulties of life, the sufferings of the psyche, are not overcome by canceling them or hiding them as if nothing had happened, but by learning to learn from them, exploiting the potential that can make us new people and sometimes better than before.
This pandemic is perhaps the most striking example that can be done to put into practice the teachings of Japanese art: death, pain and suffering created must not be forgotten. The strength of hugs and the importance of social relationships is what we have neglected for decades, giving precedence to crazy races for the best work goal, for one's personal success. When we were forbidden to hug, to go out, to hold someone's hand tightly, then we understood what value these "things" had that we had broken over the years to favor others: work, success, selfishness. The logs need to be repaired, remember? Now that you are trying to get back to normal - but what normal? - you have to apply Asian art: be reborn in a new form, this time friendlier, more cordial, less hasty, use a little glue and gold dust or silver to join the broken locks. Now we are new people, ready to embrace, the real one and not the one made in a hurry. We are ready to be reborn all united in one great race, the one made towards well-being and serenity.
TRY kintsugi yourself at home!
All you need is logs and golden glue to transform a broken ceramic object into a work of art.
What are the steps?
- in a bowl mix together the solvent-free bio-component epoxy glue with the golden acrylic powder.
- apply the cream on the edges of the locks and put the missing pieces together, holding them in place for a few minutes (be careful that the golden glue will come out from the edges)