Legend has it that the Japanese shōgun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a much loved, but damaged tea bowl back to China for repairs. It was returned with metal staples bolting the broken pieces together which did not please the shōgun. He urged local Japanese craftsmen to search for a more aesthetic manner in which to repair the bowl. They chose to use lacquer to bond the pieces together and then dusted the lacquer with gold powder. The cracks of the repair therefore became part of the object, and so the art of kintsugi was born.
23 Mar 2018
