“In Japan beauty is initiatory, it is deserved, it is the prize
of a long and sometimes painful search, is the final intuition, jealous possession.”
(Fosco Maraini)
ANITA CERRATO ARTWORKS
KINTSUGI SCULPTURE
I have been practicing the kintsugi technique for many years, so much so that the cracks have now entered me. I can no longer look at a ruined object, a devastated road, a broken wall, without catching a glimpse of its poetry. We are all bent by history, disfigured by experiences, the only thing we can do is accept what happens by telling ourselves that it is all life: suffering makes us more empathetic and, if we want, poetic.
For this reason, when I see an object, I cannot consider it just matter, but a translation of what I am. So I decided to try to convey all my experience through the art form that best suits me, kintsugi sculpture and not only that, also with sculpture worked with traditional Japanese techniques, that is, lacquered with urushi and painted with the maki-e.
UNIQUE ITEMS OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY
KINTSU HANDMADE
We produce furniture items of the highest quality, which carry a message with them. The original raw materials come specifically from Japan: the pottery and the precious urushi lacquer. Our objects are then finished with kintsugi pure gold powder, or simply with urushi lacquer, urushi tsugi.
Our objects are unique, there is no catalog because we do not work in series, each ceramic breaks in a different, asymmetrical way, precisely according to the canons of Japanese aesthetics which declaim the characteristics of beauty with three terms: transience, simplicity, asymmetry.
RESTORE WITH GOLD
KINTSUGI
Kintsugi is an ancient Japanese technique for restoring ceramics. Its name derives from “Kin” gold – “tsugi” reunion.
According to the most accredited legend, it originated in the 15th century AD, when Ashikaga Yoshimasa, eighth shogun of Ashikaga, after breaking his favorite tea cup, sent it to China to have it repaired. Unfortunately, the repairs were carried out with unaesthetic and not at all functional metal bindings. The object now seemed lost, but its owner tried to entrust it to some Japanese craftsmen who, surprised by the shogun’s tenacity in getting his beloved cup back, decided to try to transform it into a jewel by filling the cracks with lacquered resin and dust. gold.
SIX HANDS, ONE CREATION
YOUR BUST, TRANSFORMED THROUGH KINTSUGI
After creating singer Elisa’s bust for her album cover together with renowned ceramic artist Rizzardo Puzzo, we decided to offer this service to a wider audience.
The process begins with a 3D-printed bust, which is used to create a mould. Once cast in ceramic and fired in the kiln, the bust is ready to be broken.
This is where you become a co-creator of the artwork, breaking the ceramic with a hammer in a truly unique experience. Your bust can then be finished using kintsugi (pure gold powder) or gintsugi (silver powder), decorated using the maki-e technique, or inlaid with mother-of-pearl (raden).
An artwork created together, step by step, resulting in a one-of-a-kind piece.
KINTSU HANDMADE
ORIGINAL KINTSUGI COURSES
For years we have been holding kintsugi courses to popularize this technique. The gilding takes place with the traditional kintsugi technique. In the kits we provide, in fact, we also provide a 10 gram tube of urushi and a specific kintsugi brush, specially packaged for us by our suppliers in Kyoto.
