Everything About ___
Live briefing

Everything about Kintsugi

Japanese pottery repair method with gold lacquer

Kintsugi, also known as kintsukuroi , is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. The method is similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. Wikipedia →

🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path

  1. Read the overview: KintsugiA 5-minute orientation
  2. Skim a recent paper: Kintsugi: Comprehensive repair of Australia’s fractured psychiatric care systemInfluential work since 2022
  3. Pick up a classic book: Il respiro della forma. Bronzo, terra, acciaio & piomboThe most-reprinted book on the subject
  4. Read the landmark paper: The Geo-cultural Conditions ofKintsugiCited 48 times
  5. Go sideways: Conservation and restoration of ancient Greek potteryA closely related topic
  6. Go sideways: Kunio Nakamura (artist)A closely related topic

📖 Definitions

Noun The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold or similar material, highlighting the cracks instead of disguising them.

🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)

🆕 Influential since 2022

📚 Books worth reading

Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.

🔗 Related topics