kintsugiberlin
Mending pottery with natural materials
Kintsugiberlin is a studio for you and your ceramic piece.
I love ceramics, and I want to repair your favourite piece of art in a sustainable way.
I offer repair service and regular workshops.
What is Kintsugi?
Kintsugi (金継ぎ, „golden joining“) is the traditional Japanese handcraft of repairing broken pottery with Urushi (漆) and powdered gold. The idea of Kintsugi is visualizing mends as uniqueness, rather than the absence or missing parts.
What is Urushi?
Urushi is a natural resin extracted from the East Asian Urushi tree (lacquer tree).
The resin is tapped by hand by an experienced Urushi tapper (漆掻き). Only about 200 ml of urushi resin can be obtained from one tree.
Tapping causes the tree to die, but new shoots soon form at the root.
About kintsugiberlin
As the founder of the studio, Satoko began practicing Kintsugi during her conservation studies in southern Germany and has been practicing it for several years. Her Kintsugi method is based on Japanese tradition, but has been adapted for everyday repair. She has been running her house-studio in Berlin since 2020.
Workshop
On every third Saturday of the month from 11am to 12:15pm you can repair your favorite pieces using the Kintsugi method.
The course fee (80 EUR per session) includes all materials you need on site.
Depending on the extent of the damage, several sessions may be required for fabrication. I will be happy to advise you on site how many sessions you need for your ceramics. It is not necessary to attend the courses directly one after the other.
If you live far away or would like to take a trial class, our workshops also offer trial materials so you can attend just one session.
Reservations are required (on-site or online). If there are less than two participants, the course will not take place. In this case, you will be notified by email at least one day in advance.
The workshop is intended for persons 18 years of age and older. To avoid an allergic reaction to urushi (urushiol), we advise people with neurodermatitis or allergic diathesis not to work with urushi. After polymerization of Urushi, the Kintsugi object is absolutely non-toxic and food safe.
Name deiner Dienstleistung
Kostenlos
1. Mending crack/ hairline Crack: from 30 EUR
(approx. 8 work steps, minimum 5 weeks)
base price: mending crack with Urushi up to 5 cm: EUR 30 EUR
from 5 cm 2,00 EUR per additional cm
additional:
with gold, both sides: 5,00 EUR (pro cm)
with gold, one side: 3,00 EUR (pro cm)
with silver, both sides: 3,00 EUR (pro cm)
with silver, one side: 2,00 EUR (pro cm)
2. Filling gap/ missing parts: from 50 EUR
(approx. 10 work steps, minimum 7 weeks)
base price: filling gap with Urushi (1 part, up to 1cm²): EUR 50 EUR
from 1 cm² (1 x 1 cm) 3,00 EUR per additional cm²
additional:
with gold, both sides: 16,00 EUR (pro cm²)
with gold, one side: 9,00 EUR (pro cm²)
with silver, both sides: 8,00 EUR (pro cm²)
with silver, one side: 5,00 EUR (pro cm²)
3. Fixing broken pieces from 40 EUR
(approx. 10 work steps, minimum 7 weeks)
base price: fixing broken piece with Urushi (1 piece, up to 20 cm): EUR 40 EUR
from 20 cm 2 EUR per additional cm
additional:
with gold, both sides: 5,00 EUR (pro cm)
with gold, one side: 3,00 EUR (pro cm)
with silver, both sides: 3,00 EUR (pro cm)
with silver, one side: 2,00 EUR (pro cm)
Please send us a picture of your object with a ruler or tape measure by e-mail, so that the sizes can be approximately seen. We will provide you with a rough estimate of repair costs and time duration. After we receive your object, we will review our estimate and provide an accurate quote.
Example 1: cracks (31 cm)
Urushi-Repair: 82 EUR
Additionally both sides Gold: 155 EUR
237 EUR
Example 2: fixing brocken pieces (3 pieces) + missing part (2 cm²)
Urushi-Repair: 133 EUR
133 EUR
Example 3: fixing broken pieces (6 pieces, 45 cm) + missing part (weniger als 1 cm²)
Urushi-Repair: 150 EUR
Additionally one sides Gold: 81 EUR
Gesamt: 231 EUR
Example 4: fixing broken pieces (5 pieces, 13 cm) + cracks (12cm) +missing parts (2 cm²)
Urushi-Repair: 150 EUR
Additionally both sides Silber: 99 EUR
Gesamt: 249 EUR
Gallery
Some of the images are from Florian Reischauer (florianreischauer.com) and Elena Capra (elenacapra.com)
© Satoko Toyoda 2023