Kintsugi is an ancient Japanese restoration technique that is now famous around the world, but do you know what it really involves?
Before striking gold powder is applied, the broken edges are fixed together and smoothed out with urushi, a type of lacquer made from the sap of the Asian tree species Toxicodendron vernicifluum, which is secreted when the bark is cut.
Urushi is an organic and eco-friendly material that has had deep roots in Japanese culture for thousands of years - in fact, the world's oldest urushi tree, unearthed in Japan in 2011, is estimated to be around 12,600 years old.
Completed with both urushi and gold, kintsugi is deeply linked to the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which teaches us to cherish the beauty in broken and imperfect things, and to cherish the natural forms of objects.
We invite you to appreciate wabi-sabi not only through kintsugi with us, but also in your visit to Japan and your everyday life.