Kintsugi and the Art of Embracing Imperfection: Suezaki Hiroki’s Vision for Artisan Renewal

Suezaki applied kintsugi to his mother’s sugar pot and milk pitcher, preserving them as family heirlooms. (© Matsumura Shina)

Antique jars restored with kintsugi. (© Matsumura Shina)

A Japanese junior high school textbook featuring Suezaki’s essay on the spirit of kintsugi. (© Matsumura Shina)

Kintsugi artwork on a porcelain vessel made to look like a chandelier. (© Matsumura Shina)

Kintsugi transformed a chipped rim into an elegant motif. (© Matsumura Shina)

A matcha bowl with a lightning-like kintsugi design. (© Matsumura Shina)

A work similar to the Bakōro presented to the Vatican Museums. (© Matsumura Shina)

Restoration in progress on the statue of seventeenth-century merchant-poet Uda Kinnori (held by the Myōkōji temple in Kyoto). (© Matsumura Shina)

Kneading raw lacquer, powdered stone, and water to make sabi urushi, which is used to fill chips before applying a coating. (© Matsumura Shina)