We first encountered the entrancing art of Kintsugi while visiting museums Kyoto in the 70s. Kintsugi is the practice of repairing broken pottery with gold, silver, platinum or brass filling the seams. This metaphor represents us when we are broken; it teaches that we can heal and become stronger, wiser, and more beautiful when we mend; we have a more valuable life with knowledge gained from experience. We become better than before.

It is therefore with joy that we found Ryan Pombo in Carrollton, Texas, a talented young man who, with his wife, had revived this ancient art. Ryan, whose company is called Kintsugi Generations believes “broken is beautiful” and he has devoted himself to mending breakage with urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. When our favorite Imari bowl was cracked, we turned to Ryan for his expert help.

As a philosophy, Ryan treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. He embraces the flawed or imperfect respecting the Japanese aesthetic that value marks of wear from the use of an object. This can be seen as a rationale for keeping an object around even after it has broken; it can also be understood as a justification of Kintsugi itself, highlighting cracks and repairs as events in the life of an object, rather than allowing its service to end at the time of its damage or breakage. The philosophy of kintsugi can also be seen as a variant of the adage, “Waste not, want not”.

Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated… a kind of physical rebirth. So, if you have a favorite bowl, dish or plate we encourage you to contact Ryan. Hopefully, the process will do for you what it did for us:  encompass the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change, and fate as aspects of human life.

Contact Ryan Pombo at KintsugiGenerations on Etsy,  https://kintsugigenerations.etsy.com. In addition to repairs (expect to pay $50-$100 for most Kinstsugi treatments), Ryan has a superb collection of beautiful and timeless Kintsugi bowls that he has for sale.