Kintsugi

In last week’s All Stitched Up! issue #223 HERE we explored the concept of wabi-sabi which is the Japanese philosophy of accepting your imperfections and making the most of what surrounds you, not despite the imperfections, but because of them.

Upon further exploration, we came across the art of kintsugi.

Kintsugi is the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken, chipped and cracked pottery using lacquer mixed with gold. Not only does repairing broken ceramics in this way give a new lease of life to the pottery, but the Japanese view the golden ‘scars’ as adding a refinement to the pottery that didn’t exist prior.

The Japanese art of kintsugi teaches that broken objects are not something to hide but to display with pride.

And that got us thinking…

It would seem that in our ‘western’ pursuit of perfection, we do anything but display our scars with pride! Whilst striving for faultlessness in who we are and what we create, we’ve lost sight of the idea that imperfections are necessary for full appreciation of beauty.

So that ‘counted once and stitched twice’ stitch you’re trying to hide under the surrounding stitches, why not find a way to ‘kintsugi’ it into place and show the world that you appreciate your imperfections and are willing to embrace the perfectly imperfect you!