Nurturing Tableware over Time

A traditional technique for mending chipped or broken vessels

When a vessel is chipped or broken, it can be mended using a traditional technique called kintsugi. This involves gluing the pieces together with lacquer. The artist’s individual flair displays itself in how the mended item turns out. It’s where they get to show their stuff. Depending on the color, shape, and other features of the object, they may play up the hue of the lacquer used or sprinkle on gold, silver, or platinum powder as a finishing touch. Kintsugi is a profound art. The piece may acquire an additional charm that it didn’t have before it was mended. It may even be reincarnated as something new.

Customers sometimes drop off objects to be mended at Natsutsubaki.
“People arrive with all sorts of stuff. Someone may turn up with an antique they’ve treasured for years. Or they may bring a cartoon character tea mug that their child used when they were little. For them, kintsugi is a way to restore a favorite item to its former beauty, to preserve cherished memories. I think that’s a wonderful thing. An article mended in this fashion shows its owner’s commitment to taking good care of it. Their attachment to it only grows after it’s been repaired.”

When you bring in an item to Natsutsubaki to be mended, first they will get you a price quote from the kintsugi artist. If you agree to the price, the kintsugi process begins. The job may take up to six months to complete, since cracks and breaks are repaired one by one with lacquer. If you break an item, keeping the broken pieces makes it easier to mend.

With wares as with people, it’s fun to watch how they change.

“We’ve been talking about nurturing tableware, but the same holds true of furniture, for example. Take wooden furniture finished with natural oils. As you use it, the edges become naturally rounded, and it takes on a different hue, enhancing its elegance. If it becomes worn and frayed, you can treat it by, say, applying oil. Your furniture will then grow more beautiful with age. The same can be said of pottery. Because pottery is made of natural materials, it changes over time. Those changes are something you should take pleasure in. When you treasure an object, it changes in ways unique to you. You then become further attached to it and treasure it all the more.”

The same can perhaps be said of people, Aya adds.
“People too become more interesting with the passage of time. For example, being changed by all the things that have happened to you and all the new people you’ve met over the course of, say, a decade gives you more depth as a person than if you were completely unchanged. Friends who have gone through changes together grow fonder of each other, and their friendship endures. With items of tableware as with people, it’s fun to watch how they change over the years you spend together.”