Kintsugi (金継ぎ) - for String Quartet - composed by Aidan Chun (2023)

Kintsugi (金継ぎ), or golden joinery, is the art form in Japanese culture where one repairs broken or shattered pottery with urushi lacquer mixed with gold, silver, or platinum dust. The result is a seemingly brand-new item. As simple as that may be, there’s a deeper meaning to it. Kintsugi is not only an art form for repairing pottery but also a way of life; a philosophy. Wabi-sabi is a philosophy rooted in Japanese culture. To view transience, imperfection, incompleteness as a beautiful aesthetic in nature. To cherish what we would call “flaws”, as sort of a “natural beauty”. This piece goes through the journey of life. Bringing in anguish and pain and stress with relief and resolution soon to follow behind. A vase breaking doesn’t mean the vase has no more use. With time and a careful hand, it can be remade back into a vase while showing its’ once cracks and flaws. Now seen as beauty, making it even more unique and special.