金継ぎ

古物商の店にふらっと入ってみた。

飾ってある皿はみんな金継ぎされていた。

「何か掘り出し物ってありますか？」と聞いたら

「ないよ。割れてへんのんは、みんなオークションに出すねん。

ここにあるんは、カスばっかしや。」

と言っていた。

でも昔の人が金継ぎしてまで修理したいものは

元々いいもんなんだそうだ。

金継ぎするほど愛着があるものなんだって。

幕末のものと言われる小さい皿を２千円で買った。

表面におできのようなブツブツができた不良品だったけど

絵が気に入ったから欲しくなった。

これで、我が家に古い物がひとつ増えた。

友達の家には江戸時代の皿や高い足がついたお椀があって

今でも普通に使っている。

～～～～

Kintsugi (or kintsukuroi) is a Japanese method for repairing broken ceramics

with a special lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum. The philosophy

behind the technique is to recognize the history of the object and to

visibly incorporate the repair into the new piece instead of disguising it.

The process usually results in something more beautiful than the original.

The video above was filmed at Tokyobike in London which recently had a

Kintsugi workshop. If you’d like to try the technique yourself, Humade

offers gold and silver DIY kintsugi kits. See also: When Mending Becomes an

Art. (via Kottke and The Kid Should See This)

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/05/kintsugi-the-art-of-broken-pieces/

Our Changing Seas: A Ceramic Coral Reef by Courtney Mattisonby Christopher

Jobson on April 22, 2014

Our Changing Seas III is the third piece in a series of large-scale ceramic

coral reef sculptures by artist Courtney Mattison. The sprawling

installation is entirely hand-built and is meant to show the devastating

transition coral reefs endure when faced with climate change, a process

called bleaching. She shares via email:

At its heart, this piece celebrates my favorite aesthetic aspects of a

healthy coral reef surrounded by the sterile white skeletons of bleached

corals swirling like the rotating winds of a cyclone. There is still time

for corals to recover even from the point of bleaching if we act quickly to

decrease the threats we impose. Perhaps if my work can influence viewers to

appreciate the fragile beauty of our endangered coral reef ecosystems, we

will act more wholeheartedly to help them recover and even thrive.

Our Changing Seas III is currently on view at the Tang Museum at Skidmore

College through June 15, 2014. (via Colossal Submissions)

Photo by Arthur Evans

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/04/our-changing-seas-a-ceramic-coral-reef-by-courtney-mattison/