Years ago in Paris at dinner at art dealer Maxime Defert’s home, each place setting had the glass knife rests in the form of a hard candy. They proved not only wonderful to look at but eminently practical.
Resting our sauce-slicked knife on it allowed us to reuse it at the next course, saving on dinnerware, without staining the placemat.
We recently came across an imaginative and meaningful iteration of the cutlery/chopstick rest by artist Tomomi Kamoshita. Using the ancient Japanese repair method of kintsugi, she glued together shards of pottery found on the beach into one-of-a-kind vessels held together by gold, their history in full sight. “I wanted to revive what waves have brought us.”
Each one is unique.
They got us thinking how cool it would be to make our own kintsugi creations using precious broken vessels.
First, we’ll test out gold glues that transform the breaks into something intentional and beautiful. We’ll start with the kit designer Lotte Dekker created using gold dust and a special adhesive. It’s also available at UK shop, Mora Approved; they will happily ship to the States.
This little video gives the gist (we recommend sound OFF ).
Many possibilities…
Wonderful! If you do give it a try, please post a follow-up to let us know how it works. I have been wanting to find a way to use kintsugi on a very beloved pot ever since I saw the idea in the first place – on IL of course – how many years ago??? It had already been repaired enough to hold together. Maybe I could just go over the resulting cracks to reinforce the seal and honor its story.
Do you know if repairs with the new kintsugi kit are food safe? I have a beautiful handmade soup tureen with a hairline crack that I want to repair and use. I’ve been carrying it around for decades (it was a generous gift from a friend) in the hopes that I would find a way to fix it. Thank you.
I don’t know. The kit is on my list to order and try, as is research into glues. I would shoot an email to the maker the kit. There are also companies that repair ceramics (though they are expensive).
I ordered this kit straight way, as I have many mosaic shards in my collection of to-do art supplies. It should provide great fun for the winter months ahead.
Jan