Broken, Fixed, Appreciated, Beautiful.

Hello! So as promised, here is 'that' article.

Have you ever had one of those game changer moments? Where you suddenly find a new part of the map, that you haven't explored yet.

A few days ago, someone sent me a message to look up Kintsugi. I did as suggested and had a gander at what google had for me. The images were cool, and visually I enjoyed them but what I found genuinely grabbed me and has kept me in a state of pondering since is the philosophy behind Kintsugi. Now as you can probably tell, Kintsugi is of Japanese origins; so there are several 'translations' - but all have a similar sentiment. Here are a few examples [I take no credit] -

"Kintsugi (金継ぎ?) (Japanese: golden joinery) or Kintsukuroi (金繕い?) (Japanese: golden repair) is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise." [Thank you Wiki]

"So what does this strange word mean? Well Kintisgui means ‘golden joinery’, and it’s the name for the 15th century art of fixing broken ceramics with a lacquer resin made to look like solid gold – and often actually using genuine gold powder.

There is a well known story about Kintsugi. A man was traveling to visit friends in Japan. While en route, some pots broke and he threw them in a bin.

When he departed he was given a gift by those he visited. He looked, and saw it was the bowls he had brought to give them, the shattered pieces put together to make something even more beautiful than the bowls they had been originally.

And the man who gave them to him said, “Now, these are even better than when you bought them”

It is said a vessel fixed by Kintsugi will be more beautiful, more precious, than before it was broken." [http://sarahbessey.com]

"Kintsugi—the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. The idea behind it is that the piece becomes more beautiful and valuable because it has been broken and has a history." [www.pinterest.com]

Now, at this point, my emotions are leading me to know that instinctively, this is something significant. I don't really know how it fits in yet but it feels like a little piece of treasure has just been revealed to me. So I start thinking about what I already know of my practice, but its like the colour of the light has changed (d'ya know what I mean?)

Cue the journal entries:

"I really like the sentiment of kintsugi; I think it will fit with my feelings about the ways in which buildings are treated. we exist in and revolve around domestic, commercial and business related buildings, yet the things we can gain in them surpasses the building itself. This lack of recognition given to the building almost renders it invalid: yet none of our uses could occur without the physical buliding. Similarly; in people, we do life with them but forget to apprciate the person themselves. This notion of celebrating the flaws resonates really well with me. Also visually, it highlights the connections, rather than trying to hide them. This illuminates the ideals I've already concieved, & has made me consider them further. I love the idea of the joins being the most precious bit. Mood + Theory."

"In light of the Kintsugi revelations, I think I should consider how my forms ae becoming connected with eachother. This visual (and practical) consideration will also strengthen my concept. The interest I have in relationships we hold will (hopefully) be emphasised by the tension given in the connections. This could also be reflected in the finishes: -research doors/windows/handles -things which have been touched (surface qualities) 'door handles are the hand holding we have with a buliding'"

"Visually, I'm inspired by architecture, space and line. Conceptually; I investigate our relationships with architectural space, & play with relational opposites. (If I create an external, I create an internal.)

I find beauty in the used, the old, the broken, the patched up. Agricultural, functional buildings hold premise for me because they have great beauty in their value of 'being useful'. We see its function but rarely think about the thing itself. [Possibly this is highlighted further due to the conspicuous lack of visual design that enters farm building considerations when compared to say a home.]

Perhaps at this point, my work becomes a reflection of relations I see within humanity; creating deeper dialogue of personal connections and interactions."

Hopefully these wonderments show considerations and development as this new revelation settled in slightly. Its definitely felt like to me, that I have been given an extra vocabulary to explore with.

It also resonated with my personally; as it shows me an example of grace (see the second web link). To know that then from this, grace comes into my work is very special for me.

There are deeper, more personal ideas behind my work that get mentioned vaguely by my talk of 'reflections of relations I see within humanity', 'we do life with them but forget to apprciate the person themselves' and 'celebrating the flaws'. They are actually discussions that I dip in an out of with myself, over relations I have and have had with my father [an end-stage alzheimer's patient, distant dad, brave, brave man], with the relationship I have with myself [child, woman, broken, healing, disapointment, progressing, achieving] and my walk with God [Father? necessity of a new perspective. Stronghold? letting go of resposibility. Loving? accepting love].

So we have tensions between potentials, realities and their connections: I have far to go; I have come so far. I should be more; I am enough. I have lost out on the chance of relationship; I am thankful for what I have experienced.

And all this gets bundled up, so very inexplicibly, into the emotional responce I recieve from old barns, sheds and shacks.

I see the presence of work, and attention in the propt up lintel. I see the stories of storms in the hanging gutter. I see responsibility in the structure and strength in the connections. I see the journeys in the weathered textures.

I feel resonance and serenity when they stand framed by empty context [and for me, this is translatable to my wearable pieces].

It is these kinds of 'mood' that I try to imbue into my work; and when collaborated together I hope the work will tell a greater narrative of architecure, connection and relationship. Ultimately, that is what I am exploring; but it will be enigmatic, and completely up to viewers to read what they like from the pieces.

I am aware that in conjunction to this, I have reserached into all areas of architecture including very modernistic, designed buildings. This is where my visual-design concious brain takes over, and I engage with the surface of what the deeper stuff has discovered: Shape, Line, Space. Sometimes that's necessary; as I can't always cope with such heavy thinking and emotional exmination. Additionally, from a business perspective; I will need different sectors of my work: Concept, Design, Commercial(?) as pouring out my sould won't ultimately sell work!. (Commercial with a ? as I am unsure if I want to do that.)

But for now, at the point of being so close to the end; I am just pushing my concept awareness and making bravery and design skills to every limit I can see. So watch this space.

All images from pinterest.

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