What is Kintsugi ?
Have you ever felt sad when your favorite vessel broke?
Even if it breaks or breaks, I want to repair it and continue using it forever.
“Kintsugi” can make such a wish come true.
Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese technique for repairing pottery using urushi.
Broken vessels are reborn with a new “beauty” by Kintsugi.
Carefully restored with urushi
Skilled urushi craftsmen will carefully restore using urushi from Iwate Prefecture.
In addition to ceramics, we can also repair glassware and lacquerware.
Kintsugi is usually decorated with gold, but there are various other finishes such as colored urushi, platinum, silver, tin, and other metals.
At Hokoan, we listen to our customers’ requests and preferences, and perform full-fledged Kintsugi using local Iwate urushi.
Requests for repairs from afar are also welcome. Please feel free to contact us.
Basic process of Kintsugi
1 [Adhesion] Use barley urushi, which is a mixture of unrefined urushi and wheat flour (or rice flour), to adhere.
2 [Rust coating] Apply “rust urushi”, which is a mixture of unrefined urushi and whetstone powder
3 [Rust sharpening] Polish the rust urushi with a file
4 [Urushi coating] Apply black lacquer to rust urushi
5 [Decoration] Bengara urushi is applied over the black urushi, and gold dust is sprinkled before it hardens.
6 [Powder hardening] Apply unrefined urushi after the gold powder has settled
Kintsugi and urushi
Urushi is a natural material obtained from the Urushi tree. Once hardened, it has strong durability, heat insulation, and antiseptic properties.
In Japan, it has been used in various fields as a familiar material since the Jomon period 9,000 years ago.
It can be said that this characteristic was demonstrated in kintsugi.
It goes well with gold, and the gold leaf of Kinkakuji and Chusonji Konjikidō is glued with urushi.
About 70% of domestic urushi is produced in Iwate Prefecture. Scratch the lacquer tree with a special tool,
A craftsman called a scraper collects the oozing Urushi liquid drop by drop.
Only 200g of Urushi liquid can be harvested from Urushi trees that have been grown for 10 to 15 years. It is very valuable because it is felled after harvesting.
Currently, the demand for domestic urushi is increasing, and there is a shortage of urushi tree resources. We are actively engaged in activities to plant urushi trees.
Kintugi Tools
Click here to purchase Kintsugi tools
We support Ukraine with Kintsugi.
We kintsugi artists will donate a portion of the proceeds to the Red Cross to support Ukraine.
Véronique Mooser
Shuichi
https://introjapan.ca/kintsugi/
Customer feedback
Beautiful work!
It is absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much for your beautiful work!