Pieces Back Together

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the breaks with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. When I first learned about it, I instantly connected to its philosophy of embracing the history of an object and its flaws, rather than concealing them. After breakage, the repaired object is even more beautiful and valuable, and its golden seams tell a story of its journey, shining through the cracks, much like our personal experiences and traumas can be opportunities to heal into something better and stronger.

This vase was, at the time of its creation, the most perfect piece of ceramic I had produced, a prized possession I proudly displayed in my room. However, in a moment of exhaustion and heavy stress, I accidentally knocked it over. Rather than discarding it, I decided to use kintsugi to put it back together, stronger and more resilient than before, much like I had done for myself in the past.