A film by Greatcoat Films.

Join third generation craftsman Shimode Muneaki on a brief introduction to kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of mending broken objects. Traditionally, lacquer is used to reconnect shattered pieces of pottery and gold leaf is applied along the repaired fault-lines to accentuate and celebrate the fissure, rather than to hide it. Watch as Shimode and his colleague, Sato Takahiko, transform everyday ceramics that had little aesthetic value when they were new into meaningful works of art after they had been broken. The moment in time when something has been shattered is permanently captured by the painstaking labours of a craftsman in building up the layers of lacquer to repair a piece. It is this reference to the now that recalls a lack of attachment to anything, but rather, being present in the moment, something constantly available to all, but particularly so when we drop a piece of china.

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  • Anna

    What a beautiful way to understand our lives. There is a lovely song about this called Japanese Bowl by Peter Mayer. Thank you for this offering

  • Kymberle

    Really neat! Thank you, I can't wait to try to imitate this art.

  • Shira Marin

    Since childhood, I have believed in the art of restoration. I am completely self-taught and wish I knew how to become more proficient even now, in my later years. The Japanese aesthetic is very dear to me. Learning about kintsugi as part of the art of Wabi Sabi, draws me ever closer to my much beloved Japanese aesthetic.Thank you so much for making this video.

  • Tomas West

    There is gold in the fault lines

  • Laura Schuster

    We all have aspects of brokenness which enrich us and this visual reminder that celebrates continuing use age is just us taking better care of who and what we are. It is lovely- I have a Turkish bowl with a chipped piece - I have been saving- I will explore how to repair it using this technique.

  • Susanne

    I was introduced to the concept of Wabasabi and its spiritual background some year ago. This film of a new generation of craftsmen who honor the beauty of broken things makes me smile and touches this memory of learning about Wabsabi. Thank you!

  • Herman Kidder

    I believe in re-using and re-making things. I am a Blacksmith. I do this all the time. The work shown in the video was beautiful.

  • 125YellowBrickRoad

    As we get older we begin to break and chip but the strength of Love and Care repairs any damage of Time.

  • Lynn

    I have loved Japanese culture and spirituality for decades. I have tried to experience wabi sabi in all things. I am a beginner potter and only recently learned about kintsugi. Such a beautiful vision. I saw it on some ancient pieces made by the great Japanese artist, poet and potter, Rengatsu. They were displayed at the Morikami Japanese Gardens and Museum in Florida recently. I wish the world would adopt this beautiful philosophy and renounce consumerism and greed.

  • Mini

    Not everything broken is lost👍

  • Brian

    Thanks Guys. "Giving life to an artpiece". Sounds like a valuable and honorable profession :o) In 2013, Germany's Cultural budget was approximately 1.63 Billion dollars. The U.S. National Endowment for the Arts has a static budget of 146.2 million per year. The bank bailout was approximately 245 billion dollars. What we value and honor shapes our civilization. The food that half of the world wastes, could feed the other half. Here's to the positive change occuring as the internet and satellites bring the entire world together. There are trade offs with everything...ex: Natural vs. Synthetic remedies etc...Now is the time. Let us all be encouraged and inspired. Peace on Earth. 1peace http://www.alternet.org/culture/culturally-impoverished-us-nea-spends-140th-what-germany-doles-out-arts-capita

  • Kristin Pedemonti

    One of my favorite philosophies, here's to our brokenness being part of our beauty. <3

  • Patricia Popple

    unbelievably, I'd just acquired three delicate Nippon tea cups without saucers that I'd gotten at a free recycle center. There were three of them and one had broken on the way home. A few minutes ago I glued that one together and set it aside to dry. I logged onto my email and clicked on one from KarmaTube that had been sent just moments before I glued the cup together. I am touched by the coincidence of this video. Kintsugi is now the reason to never throw away broken china....thank you

  • Page 1

  • Kintsugi is a practice within the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, which holds that "flaws" create a beauty that reflects the impermanence, incompleteness, and imperfection of life. Learn more.
  • “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places," wrote Hemingway in A Farewell to Arms. Discover this Mary Oliver Poem, reveling how broken lives come together to be mended.
  • Repair a broken thing to give it new life, new value, a new aesthetic, and a new symbolic meaning.

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