In my region, temperatures have dropped below freezing. Yesterday, on a quiet snowy afternoon, I visited a friend’s house to try kintsugi. My friend was restoring a plate that had been in their family for over 100 years, passed down from their grandfather.
Recently, I had trouble adjusting to my new stove. I accidentally turned on the wrong one, which resulted in breaking a cherished Arabia bowl that was sitting on top. I had temporarily repaired it with conventional glue, but some parts were still missing. Coincidentally, my friend had just bought a Kintsugi kit from France and invited me to try Kintsugi together. It was my first time attempting this traditional craft.
A Perfect Winter Activity
For this repair, we didn’t use traditional urushi lacquer but instead applied an epoxy resin-based method. We mixed gold powder into epoxy putty to bond and fill the missing pieces. The repaired sections are slightly raised, so I plan to sand them down once they are fully cured.
Working on kintsugi in a warm room, enjoying Japanese sweets and German cakes while chatting with a like-minded friend who also loves crafting—it was a perfect winter activity.
Cherishing What We Have
Back home, as I admired the restored bowl, I reflected on the importance of valuing what we have. When the bowl broke, I was shocked and thought it was beyond repair. I even considered discarding it with gratitude. But now, I’m so glad I could fix it.
This Arabia bowl is special—it was part of a large set we bought when I had just moved to Germany more than ten years ago. At a second-hand shop, we were surprised to find the entire set—tea cups, saucers, cake plates, a teapot, bowls, and more—for only 12 euros. My partner and I immediately bought it without hesitation. We use the sturdy good looking Arabia dishes almost everyday.
The idea of cherishing what we have extends beyond objects to relationships as well. During the first few years after my daughter was born, my partner and I were overwhelmed with parenting, and our relationship suffered greatly. Fortunately, things have settled down, and after my personal lesson of losing assets on FTX (a humbling experience) etc, I believe we’ve mended things significantly—at least from my perspective. Just like repairing a broken object, restoring a strained relationship can bring new meaning and depth to it.
Now I know why it's even known in foreign countries with the Japanese term "Kintsugi." Kintsugi is truly beautiful. It shows as resilience.
If I get the chance, I would love to experience traditional urushi-based Kintsugi someday.
Have a nice weekend, everyone!
私が住んでいる地域では零下に気温が下がっています。昨日は静かに雪が降る午後、友人宅で金継ぎをしました。友人はおじいさんの代の100年以上前のお皿を直していました。
最近、新しいコンロに慣れていなくて、誤って思っていたのとは違うコンロをつけてしまい、その上に乗っていた思い出のアラビア社のお皿を割ってしまいました。とりあえずは接着剤で直してあったものの、欠けていた部分がありました。おもしろいタイミングで友人がフランスから金継ぎのキットを買ってきて一緒に金継ぎをしようということになり、初めての金継ぎに挑戦しました。
雪が降る中、暖かい部屋で日本のおやつやドイツのケーキをつまみながら、同じくものづくりが大好きな友人とおしゃべりしつつ作業するのは至福のひとときでした。
今回挑戦したのは、日本の伝統的な漆を使う方法ではなく、エポキシ樹脂を使った金継ぎ風の加工で、エポキシパテに金色の粉を混ぜて接着したりかけている箇所を埋めたりします。加工部分が少し盛り上がっているので、完全に乾いら削って平らにする予定です。
家に戻ってお皿を眺めながら、改めて「縁のあるものを大事にする」ことについて考えました。お皿が割れてしまった時はショックで、直らないような気がして、一度は感謝と共に捨ようかと思いましたが、直せて本当によかったです。というのもこのアラビアのお皿は大家族でうちにやってきた中の一枚で、ドイツに移ったばかりの頃に、セカンドハンドショップで誰も価値がわからなかったのかびっくりするような値段がついていて（ティーカップやソーサー、ケーキ皿、ポット、ボウルなどなどすべてまとめて12ユーロでした・・・）慌てて相方と買った思い出の品なのです。
「縁のあるものを大事にする」ことの大切さは、物だけではなく、人間関係にも通じるのかもしれません。子供が産まれて数年は、初めての子育てでお互いバタバタで、相方との関係が極端に悪くなった時期がありました。幸い最近は子育てが落ち着いてきて、私が自分の資産をFTXで吹き飛ばすなどしてちょっと反省したこともあり、ずいぶん修復されました（と少なくとも私は思っています）。壊れかけた関係も修復する中で、そこに新たな魅力や価値が生まれ、より深みのあるものになるのかもしれません。アラビアのお皿を見ながらそんなことも思いました。
金継ぎっていいですね。いつか機会があったら漆を使う金継ぎも体験してみたいです。
みなさんよい週末を！
I’ve heard about Kintsugi, but I thought it was really hard and even considered an art form. I hope I’ll have the opportunity to try it someday
The traditional method takes long time and a kind of art as you wrote. The one I tried this time is a easy simplified version. But it was a good start :) I think you like it as an artist. I wish both of us can try it some day.
I have kept a little traditional coffee cup and the handle from my favourite tea cup to repair when it is the right time 😁.
Today I am enjoying needlework. I used to sew a lot but it got lost somewhere. After Christmas, I joined an adult education class called "sewing project workshop" for ten weeks. I really enjoy it - there's a little technical session each week but most of the time is spent on your own projects. Those two hours inspire me to spend much more time sewing each week. My plan is to have two finished garnments by 4 April (okay, they might need a little hemming) 😂
Good that you have tolerance ... I couldn't wait and repaired with conventional glue first. So mostly I did was to fill a missing part with the gold epoxy. Right timing will come 😉
Sewing group sounds fun. I want to join yours 😁 I understand how we overestimate our capabilities... I want to sew my and my daughter's gothic dresses (for the first time!) until a gothic fest in June or even May .... 😅 We'll see!
Gothic dresses sound fun! 😍
😁
素敵ですね！実際にしたことはないのですが、金継ぎの概念がとても好きです。
Kotoさんとあっているなあと思いました😉