Kintsugi - the art of imperfection

When I am not working with clients in therapy, I am making pottery. For me there are so many overlaps and metaphors between therapy, life and pottery.

I made this vase and was pretty pleased with how it turned out. However, one day I dropped it and broke the handle off. I was very frustrated with myself (to say the least). But the Japanese art of kintsugi saved the day. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with gold. So, I lovingly repaired this piece giving it a new life.

Kintsugi embraces the art of imperfection. I think this vase looks better with its gold cracks than it did before. I feel kintsugi teaches us something about learning to love our ‘cracks’/’imperfections’ (I don’t really think there is such a thing as perfect or imperfect) and instead celebrating and embracing them. It also teaches us with time and patience we can turn adversity into something beautiful.