DEMONSTRATION
The Art of Kintsugi: Live Demonstrations by Nishikawa Iku

This event is fully booked.

Take a closer look at the Japanese art of kintsugi during an afternoon of live demonstrations at Japan House London led by Nishikawa Iku from Kintsugi Oxford.

Roughly translating as ‘joining with gold’, kintsugi is the centuries old Japanese repair technique which uses Japanese lacquer (urushi) dusted with powdered gold or other precious materials to restore broken ceramic vessels. The craft is underpinned by a philosophy of finding beauty in the flawed or imperfect. Rather than masking fractures, kintsugi highlights them to tell an object’s story.

During each session at Japan House, Nishikawa gives an introduction to the art of kintsugi and its meaning, before providing a practical step-by-step demonstration of how guests can use kintsugi techniques at home to repair their own broken or chipped ceramic items. During the event, guests are encouraged to ask questions.

The demonstration events will be followed by interactive kintsugi workshops beginning in late March 2022. More information on these workshops will be added to our website shortly.

Japan House London is a COVID-secure venue. Please visit our COVID-19 webpage for more information about the measures we have implemented to ensure your safety.

About the speaker

Nishikawa Iku

Founder of Kintsugi Oxford, Nishikawa Iku was born and raised in Kochi, Japan. She first became attracted to the art of kintsugi while assisting Kyoto lacquerware craftsmen Shimode Muneaki and Sato Takahiko with the delivery of kintsugi workshops at the Ashmolean Museum and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. Although kintsugi has often been considered as a professional craft technique achievable only in Japan, through practice and training Nishikawa found that the craft could be accessible outside Japan by using recently developed new materials. As Kintsugi Oxford, she has given kintsugi workshops in Japan, Italy and the UK using new materials. She hosts individual and group lessons from her studio in Oxford from where she carries out kintsugi repairs for private clients. She has worked with artists including Lisa Hammond, Bouke de Vries, Kat Wheeler and Claudia Clare.