Why Does Kintsugi Have a Healing Effect on the Mind ?
Improving Your Daily Life with Kintsugi
Kintsugi is regarded as a kind of “modeling activity”. As the name suggests, modeling activity involves creating shapes. An unique thing about kintsugi is that it creates a new piece from an original shape by repairing broken pieces with a special technique. Therefore, although kintsugi is a modeling activity, the output is fixed to some extent.
Low flexibility (=plasticity)
As you know, kintsugi is a restoration technique to mend broken pieces to a part of beautiful art, but you cannot freely decide the final shape. Kintsugi does not create an output (final creature) from scratch. It is different from making ceramic pieces, where you have to start from nothing and build everything.
This kind of work with a low range of freedom is called “low flexibility (=plasticity)” of work.
When you create something from scratch, you pour all of your feelings and thoughts into the work and project emotions into the work. Having full freedom of creation can sometimes be a source of stress and it can even become a burden.
However, when you do kintsugi, the outline has been already decided, very much like it is in coloring books. When you have a defined scope of freedom and have to work within those limits, you do not have to think, which usually relieves stress. That is why so many people feel a sense of calm and peace when doing kintsugi.
When Value Is Found in Cracks
Those kinds of ideas are unnecessary in the world of Kintsugi.
On the contrary, kintsugi can be done only when there are broken pieces or scratches to be repaired and embellished with gold.
Through kintsugi, you can experience the healing of physical and internal wounds and find a new meaning into them. You can embrace them, and accept them to move forward.
At Tsugu Tsugu, we wish to share this sense of peace with as many people as possible through the teaching of kintsugi repair.