Last week, for the first time, I tried my hand at the Japanese art of kintsugi. To save you the trouble of Googling, this is the process by which the Japanese join together things that have been broken with a lacquer dusted with gold or silver. The joints are covered with this veneer so that the repaired object looks even more beautiful than it did in its original state (it’s all part of a Japanese concept called wabi sabi – you can look that one up yourself!).
It so happened that one of the saucers of my favourite tea set was broken into three while washing up. But the breaks were clean and the edges such that they could be glued together. So, once I had got over my disappointment at ruining a perfect set, I decided that kintsugi was the answer. So, I used some glue to stick the pieces together and then using a golden metallic paint that I bought online, I painted over the cracks in as delicate a line as I could manage. And even though I am no expert, I have to say the end result looked splendid. In fact, the saucer looked even more amazing than it had before.
I guess you could draw the usual lessons from this episode: that we should not become a disposable culture; that we need to learn to mend and make do; and that sometimes repairing something can provide an added patina of beauty. But the lesson that I took from it was this: That truly luxurious objects are the ones that you don’t throw away when they get damaged, but fix lovingly so that they live to give you joy for many more years to come. In my case, it was a part of a tea set that I am particularly attached to, but it could be anything from clothes to shoes to bags, or even objects that we use for home decor.
It is a lesson that the English aristocracy have learnt well over the many centuries they have been around. They revel in a look dubbed shabby-chic in their country homes, with curtains and carpets that are well-worn but carry the weight of decades very well. They take pride in using the furniture they inherited; in fact, buying your own furniture marks you out as nouveau riche. They never throw out their suits or shoes when they get a tear; instead they send it off to be repaired by experts and get a few more years out of them.
{{/usCountry}}It is a lesson that the English aristocracy have learnt well over the many centuries they have been around. They revel in a look dubbed shabby-chic in their country homes, with curtains and carpets that are well-worn but carry the weight of decades very well. They take pride in using the furniture they inherited; in fact, buying your own furniture marks you out as nouveau riche. They never throw out their suits or shoes when they get a tear; instead they send it off to be repaired by experts and get a few more years out of them.
{{/usCountry}}Prince Philip, famously, never bought any new clothes for the last few decades of his life, just fixing the suits he had bought in younger days. His son, King Charles, has often been seen in public wearing suits with a darning patch over his pocket or lapel. And his shoes often sport patches where some discreet repair work has been done.
Well, if something is good enough for the King of England, then surely it should be good enough for the rest of us as well. So, even if you draw the line at doing a spot of kintsugi on a humble saucer, perhaps you would consider mending and making do when it comes to home décor or your wardrobe? Believe me, it sparks a joy entirely unlike any other.
From HT Brunch, July 05, 2025
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