Resilience allows me to transform grief into a new start.
With sadness, I looked at the shards of my porcelain lamp. Just an accident. The end of an object. This lamp marked a new phase in my life. I paused and noticed the shards' curvature and whiteness. Instead of discarding them, I brought them to my studio. There, I ground them into ovals and joined them with square wire from a found brass rod.
This act reminded me of Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken ceramics with gold or silver. Kintsugi views breakage and repair as part of an object's history, not flaws to hide. To me, it also means accepting the inevitable challenges along your path. It ties in with my research into the values and appreciation people place on materials.
I wrote the BLOG On resilience about the work process.
Necklace On Resilience
2021
one-of-a-kind
recycled porcelain, recycled brass
box:spruce plywood, recycled leather from boots, brass nails
hallmark master's mark
height 250 mm / 9.84 Inch
width 195 mm / 7.68 Inch
depth 34 mm / 1.34 Inch
accompanying box:
height 300 mm / 11.81 Inch
width 246 mm / 9.69 Inch
depth 52 mm / 2.05 Inch