Medium: Polymer clay, ceramics, gold mica powder, resin, jewelry findings

Kintsugi is an art that comes from the 15c Japan; where reportedly a Shogun had his favourite tea cup broken in battle, so he sent it back to China to be repaired, but when it returned it had metal staples securing the cup together and could no longer hold tea; although it had been put back together, it was no longer able to function. The Shogun wanted to use his favourite tea cup, so Japanese artisans took it upon themselves to find a way to make the cup function again. The artisans mended the cracks with precious metal, making the tea cup usable again, and more valuable. While it was clearly no longer what it once had been, it was still able to be used for tea. Other Shogun were said to be jealous of this beautiful cup that they started breaking their own exquisite items intentionally so they could be beautifully mended by the artisans with melted silver, platinum, or gold. Kintsugi items have been displayed with pride around the world for the last 600 years, items are reconstructed into art and are considered more valuable instead of “damaged” because they have transformed into unique treasures.

As a culture we need to celebrate the “breaks” and uniqueness in other people and in ourselves. Kintsugi is an art that prises the imperfection; relishes in uniqueness. Just because an item is broken, or changed from how it once was, it does not mean that it can no longer be valuable or useful - I feel like as patients we are all kintsugi items: each piece has its own story and special beauty, we can become more refined because of our scars, and we should celebrate our resilience.

I have made some concept pieces of jewelry out of polymer clay. I was inspired to use the Japanese character for “Human” as the scar on the internationally recognised symbol for happiness (the happy face) to symbolize that while a person may be “broken” they can be happy. I used the same scar on a heart because we are all human, we are all imperfect, and we are all worthy of love.

The heart-shaped jewelry and ceramic dish are symbolic because often part of having a chronic illness makes you feel like you have a broken heart or are grieving. The cat shaped ceramic tea mug is a nod to the origin story of kintsugi as well as a play on my name.