Kintsugi – Japanese ceramic

This series, titled “Kintsugi”, is a tribute to this ancestral Japanese ceramic technique. Thanks to the Japanese vegetal lacquer, the parts broken during ceramic firing can be restored to their full beauty. Each crack repaired is then sublimated thanks to pure gold. With shapes turned and polished with an Agate pebble then smoked, which sometimes crack during the firing process, she knows how to give a new cycle of life. Elsewhere the crack would be seen as a failure, she repairs it with vegetal lacquer, urushi, sprinkled with pure gold, Kintsugi. When they come out of the kiln, at more than 1000 degrees/1832 Fahrenheit, the pieces are smoked with wood chips. This is actually what gives them a dark, elegant and always different finish. Sometimes parts break or crack. This is where the power of the Kintsugi technique comes into play.  

“Kintsugi” is not only an ancestral Japanese technique, it is also a true philosophical message. It’s truly about the beauty of the imperfect. Each Karen Swami’s piece is absolutely unique, and even more so the “Kintsugi”.