Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese technique of repairing broken vessels using sap from lacquer trees. Lacquer has a very strong hardening effect when it dries. In Japan, its properties have been used to glue vessels since the Jomon period, 9000 years ago.
At the closing ceremony of the recent Paralympic Games, Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee, introduced kintsugi as being in line with the philosophy of the Paralympic Games, saying, "The idea is to accept everyone's imperfections and cherish them rather than hide them."
The kintsugi process involves seven steps, depending on the object, and can take six months or more to complete because the lacquer takes several days to dry before moving on to the next step.
When we fix something, we think about the people who have used it, and the people who will use it in the future, and we think about what kind of atmosphere the finish should give to the object, whether the form should be plump, flat, or dug down, whether the appearance should be smooth or uneven, how thick should the lines be? What color? What is the size of the gold particles? How big are the gold particles? It is such a fun time. When it is finished, we feel as if the vessel has thanked us.
By restoring things that are broken but cannot be thrown away, we can look at the flaws as we use them and remember the events and people who made them, and continue to cherish them.
For the Touch Classic's Wind Bell we repaired this time, the black tamamushi-nuri coating on the glass looked like a deep blue, so we gave it a galaxy-like texture and sprinkled silver powder on it.
Enjoying and taking care of things, and before you know it, you will be living an environmentally friendly life. It would be nice if what the Japanese used to do as a matter of course would spread more.
Touch Classic's Wind Bell
https://www.shokunin.com/en/touchclassic/furin.html
References
https://table-life.com/columns/post/29896
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/64cc72e4087fbaf40b18211324f6f3993c3db99f
