Repaired Ceramics (sugru)

These creatively repaired ceramic shards, bowls and plates are both delightfully crafted and though-provoking, encouraging us to look again at materials we may consider to be ‘waste’, and to revalue the skills and expertise involved in acts of repair. These characterful reconstructions were made by Bridget Harvey, a maker, researcher and activist who brings together discarded and damaged domestic objects, waste materials, and repair and conservation techniques drawn from numerous disciplines. Bridget’s experimental ceramic repairs have included plates held together with band aids, brown paper parcel tape, gardening wire, elaborate embroidery and milk-derived casein glue.

This particular ceramic bowl has been visibly mended using a technique Bridget calls ‘kintsuglue’. This technique makes use of a contemporary silicone rubber repair material, sugru, but uses it in the style of the traditional Japanese mending technique kintsugi (which typically employs urushi lacquer and gold powder to create delicate and deliberately visible repairs). It was made in 2022 during a Festival of Stuff masterclass where Bridget led a public group in experimental ceramic repair.