KINTSUGLUE PLATE (2019), KINTSUGI PLATE (2019), KINTSUGI LADLE (2019)

The recent spread of appreciation of Kintsugi, a deliberately visible ceramic repair using urushi lacquer and gold powder, demonstrates a growing broader acceptance of such visibility and appropriation of crafts: as we get more used to it as an aesthetic, it becomes less jarring than a broken object, and potentially less visible as a repair, even when considered a loud addition to an object.

New repair materials are also being developed, some of which I have worked with like Sugru, and which are now starting to be copied. This copying to me adds another layer of complexity to the repaired object itself and questions of authenticity around it. For example, this plate is fixed using Kintsuglue, a Sugru copy, and although I fixed it, maybe I cannot claim authorship. I not only worked into an object made by someone else, but I also used a copy of a new material for that repair-making. It makes me ask how it affects the authenticity of my practice, and does it matter?