2021: Creating a Lexicon of Future

K is for Kintsugi

Kintsugi of the Past

Poetically translated to “golden joinery,” Kintsugi, or Kintsukuroi, is the centuries-old Japanese art of fixing broken pottery. Rather than rejoin ceramic pieces with a camouflaged adhesive, the Kintsugi technique employs a special tree sap lacquer dusted with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Once completed, beautiful seams of gold glint in the conspicuous cracks of ceramic wares, giving a one-of-a-kind appearance to each “repaired” piece.

This unique method celebrates each artifact’s unique history by emphasizing its fractures and breaks instead of hiding or disguising them. In fact, Kintsugi often makes the repaired piece even more beautiful than the original, revitalizing it with a new look and giving it a second life. ~ Kintsugi: The Centuries-Old Art of Repairing Broken Pottery with Gold

Kintsugi of the Future: Kintsugi Court

Kintsugi Court employs the kintsugi approach on a large scale. In keeping with the spirit of the technique, Solomon sees his additions as a mending of the court — both literally and figuratively. “To celebrate the sport of basketball as a universally accessible, class-agnostic, race-indifferent platform, and its ability to bring people together to heal in this important moment,” he explains in a statement, “my team and I renovated a dilapidated court in South Los Angeles, filling its cracks with gold-dusted resin inspired by the…