Kintsugi

When Jack goes to bed, some nights Becca and I find we have some time to chill out together. Right now we are using that time to rewatch Ted Lasso from the start before we start the new season. It’s such a comfort blanket of a show, brings such joy, and I forgot how good and funny it was. In the episode we watched last night the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer and gold, known as Kintsugi, gets a brief mention. It’s something I’ve heard about before, and I can recall losing several hours watching videos of the repairs being made. That lead to another mild obsession with the making of Yixing (traditional Chinese clay tea pots), a rabbit hole I occasionally still fall down. The thinking behind Kintsugi struck me though, and I don’t know why I didn’t make this connection before. Kintsugi isn’t trying to hide the cracks or pretend the bowl, or plate, or cup was never broken. The cracks are honoured as part of its history and keeping them, indeed embellishing them,…