Originally from Japan, a ceramist based in Entre-deux-Mers in Gironde repairs objects using the ancestral Kintsugi method. Ikuyo Pupier highlights the traces of breakage instead of hiding them. A whole art of resilience.
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Kintsugimeans “golden join”. This 15th century Japanese art consists of repairing objects while enhancing traces of breakage: they emerge slightly different, often more original, with a sort of “extra soul”.
“By showing the faults, explains Ikuyo Pupier, we keep the memory of the past, we create a new work of art, we understand that everything is repairable.”
It sometimes takes a month of gluing and drying to completely restore a broken object.
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© France 3 Aquitaine
More than a technique, a way of thinking drawn from the precepts of Zen Buddhism, which consist of celebrating life through the passage of time and trials, without masking imperfection and fragility. Because it is a metaphor for the wounds of existence, Kintsugi is called the art of resilience.
When I repair, it makes me feel good mentally, it’s pleasant, I feel good.
The contrast of the whiteness of earthenware and Japanese lacquer
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© France 3 Aquitaine
One month to repair a simple cup
Ikuyo Pupier set up his workshop in Cazaugitat, a village in Entre-deux-Mers, to practice this activity which requires a lot of concentration, technique and patience.
Between the various stages of drying and gluing, it takes on average a month to restore objects the size of a cup. And this can go up to a year for certain parts.
Lacquer from urushi is a powerful natural adhesive
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© France 3 Aquitaine
The ceramist uses a lacquer known for four thousand years in Asia. A natural, very adhesive sap from the urushi tree. It also serves as a varnish.
A product to always handle with gloves because, even in small quantities, lacquer is powerfully toxic. “You have to work millimeter by millimeter when gluing the pieces, fill each tiny flaw with porcelain powder, let it dry, sand gently, and repeat all the operations several times… It’s very longsighs Ikuyo Pupier. People don’t realize“.
The last step is the most important. It consists of depositing gold or tin powder. It is this powdered effect which, symbolically, will heal the cracks in the object and restore its shine.
A vase repaired using the kintsugi method
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© France 3 Aquitaine
I don’t know how to create or draw, but with broken objects, the work is born by itself. It’s always a good surprise
Ikuyo Pupier was not always a ceramist. In Tokyo, she worked in a duty-free store. After seeing the planes take off, she bought a ticket. Destination France to taste the cheeses!
This is how in 1997, she discovered the Aquitaine region and decided to settle there, without knowing that a treasure awaited her at the bottom of her property. A small deposit of clay that made him want to learn pottery.
Ikuyo devant son gisement d’argile
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© France 3 Aquitaine
She starts by making her own dishes. Original, refined pieces, which quickly won over several chefs in the region, including some starred chefs.
Some of the objects made by Ikuyo Pupier
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© France 3 Aquitaine
Over time, it becomes unbearable for him to see a broken object. This is how she decides to learn Kintsugi. An unexpected trajectory, a bit like the meanders of these objects restored with gold powder…
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