Member Masterclass: The Art of Kintsugi

Member Events

Back by popular demand, we are running our kinsugi masterclass again. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, brass or platinum. Kintsugi is a very popular practice in Japan and can be seen to have similarities to the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, an embracing of the flawed or imperfect.

Kintsugi usually takes three weeks to repair a small area and fill with gold. This masterclass, led by Iku Nishikawa, is a beginners guide to kintsugi, and will take only a day to repair a damaged area plus a week of drying. Iku uses a few short cuts to allow beginners to walk away with a repaired ceramic in a day.

Please bring an plate or bowl with a simple break or chip that you would like to repair, and a plastic or cardboard box that can hold the object while it sets for a week. Anything cup-shaped, or plates or bowls that are broken in many different pieces will take too long to repair so are not suitable for this workshop. If you have a very special item that’s broken, bring this it along for Iku to advise on but do not use this for the masterclass itself. Please be aware, your plate or bowl will not be completed by 1pm and you will need to come back one week later to finish it. Until then we will keep it safe in the box that you bring along until the urushi is set.

As this Masterclass is so popular, we will trial publishing an online tutorial of it afterwards, put together following the event. Members who are not able to attend the masterclass will be able to use tutorial and supplies in the Makespace to teach themselves kintsuki using Iku's technique. If you have already practiced the art of kintsugi, you might prefer to join the intermediate class or advanced workshop, which are available on request here. http://www.kintsugioxford.com/

Iku is self-taught and has learned the craft through participation in a series of masterclass events in Oxford and learning alongside a Kintsugi master. In 2014 Iku helped to organize Kintsugi a series of events at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. After staying in touch with the master craftsman and owner of Urushi Maker from Kyoto, Japan, Iku began to learn the practice. The following year Iku was asked to run a masterclass at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Iku has not been to Kintsugi school, but continues to learn from a master. In his day-to-day job, Iku is a Japanese language teacher.