Kintsugi Gilding workshop with Richard Walker

Join Master Gilder Richard Walker for a one day kintsugi gilding workshop.

Kintsugi (golden joinery) started in Japan around 500 years ago. When a clay, porcelain or glass item was broken, instead of hiding any repairs, the art (and idea) of Kintsugi is to celebrate the damage as part of the life journey and history of a piece. This philosophy is a great idea to carry forward today in the ecologically aware conditions that we are exercising on the earth.

Using contemporary materials, this Kintsugi class is a chance to explore the potential of this craft with your own items. Whether you have cracked, broken or smashed vessels that need repairing, or wish to break something anew within the class in order to repair it, any cracks, gaps or chips can be repaired using pure gold-leaf to turn those imperfections into something beautiful.

Vases, plates, bowls and many more things can be explored. However, the Kintsugi process is for decoration only, and the utilitarian nature of the vessel may not be something that can be kept.

With broken pottery, the Japanese would accomplish this with the use of staples and natural resins mixed with powdered gold. In fact, people would sometimes deliberately smash precious family pottery and heirlooms in order to have them repaired by a Kintsugi craftsman and elevate the piece in the home!

For our class, we will be using modern water-based materials, as well as super glue and epoxy resins. The repairs can be completed in either pure yellow gold, or if you prefer white gold according to your taste.

You may work on as many pieces as you can find the time for. You will also be invited to take home all the materials that you have been using, so you can carry on Kintsugi in the comfort of your own home. Smashing!