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Arts & Culture

Kintsugi: Repairing Pottery with Gold Lacquer

Quick fact

Kintsugi dates back to the 15th century, when the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa sent a damaged Chinese tea bowl to be repaired in China but was unhappy with the ugly metal staples used; Japanese artisans then developed a more beautiful method using gold lacquer.

Why this is interesting

Imagine dropping a treasured ceramic bowl, shattering it into pieces—instead of throwing it away, you fill the cracks with gold and make it more beautiful than before. That is exactly what the Japanese art of kintsugi does, but how does the gold actually stick?