kintsugi

American  

[kin-tsoo-gee] / kɪnˈtsu gi /

noun

1. Also called kintsukuroi.  a traditional Japanese pottery repair technique in which lacquer mixed with precious metals, especially gold, is used to fill cracks and replace missing pieces.

   A 300-year old vase repaired with kintsugi was on display.

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Etymology

Origin of kintsugi

First recorded in 2005–10; from Japanese: literally “gold repair, gold joinery”

Example Sentences

Ms. Kondo illustrates mottainai through art forms that evolved from the spirit of preservation—including kintsugi, or the painstaking process of repairing broken pottery with a combination of lacquer and gold.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025

Visitors can also participate in kintsugi workshops, learning how to repair chipped, cracked and broken ceramic and porcelain tableware using 100% natural materials including urushi lacquer and 24K gold powder.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 1, 2024

By the end, though, McDermott’s scattered thoughts satisfyingly cohere like kintsugi, the Japanese art of rejoining broken pottery pieces with golden lacquer, which he describes near the beginning.

From New York Times • Mar. 31, 2023

If that sounds hard to believe, look up the Japanese word kintsugi.

From Salon • Apr. 30, 2021

The 15th century Japanese technique of kintsugi — which means “to join with gold” — uses lacquer mixed with powdered gold to repair shattered pieces of pottery.

From Washington Post