Yiwei Cui
Bio-Kintsugi
“How micro-organisms could be utilised in contemporary craft practices”
Wabi-sabi is an ancient Japanese philosophy focused on accepting the imperfect and transient nature of life. Often associated with Wabi-sabi is the art of Kintsugi – a method of repairing broken pottery using gold or lacquer. The process highlights, rather than conceals, the cracks allowing them to become a part of the piece. By exploring the qualities and technique of micro-mineralisation, literally the biological process in which living organisms are naturally able to repair themselves, Yiwei is hoping to develop and perfect the practice of Bio-Kintsugi, or rather, develop a technique in which micro-organisms and bacteria can repair broken objects efficiently and beautifully.
Kintsugi [金継ぎ, “golden joinery”], also known as Kintsukuroi [金繕い, “golden repair”], is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum, a method similar to the maki-e technique. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.
Wabi-sabi [わびさび] the discovery of beauty in imperfection; the acceptance of the cycle of life and death.