Kintsugi
The Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with gold-dusted lacquer.
Also known as: golden joinery
Kintsugi ("golden joinery") is the traditional Japanese practice of repairing cracked or broken pottery with urushi lacquer dusted with gold, silver, or platinum powder. Rather than hiding the break, kintsugi celebrates it — the seams glitter and become part of the bowl's aesthetic. In tea ceremony culture, a kintsugi-mended chawan is often considered more valuable than an unbroken one: the visible repair tells the bowl's story. If your daily-use chawan cracks, kintsugi (or simpler epoxy mending) is a real option for keeping it.