Behind The Canvas - S02E06 - Goenne Kintsugi

You know, in conservation, there are any number of approaches that are correct, but one that's survived since the 14th century in Japan, kintsugi, is about so much more than living with and embracing imperfections. It's about a dedication to craft, to mastery, and to doing things that may not be easy, but are right. I'm Julian Baumgartner. As a fine art conservator over the past two decades, working to preserve artworks, I've been fortunate enough to meet and work with some of the most talented, driven, and interesting people in the arts. And now I want to take you into their worlds, to meet them, hear their stories, and share their passions. So join me as we go Behind the Canvas. Nestled in the quiet streets of the city of Fukuoka, in the south of Japan, lies an unassuming workshop. This is Goen, the studio of Miki Temu. I've left my studio and traveled across the world to hers, to learn the art and craft of kintsugi. Konnichiwa, Miki? Yes. Pleasure to meet you, Julian. Yeah, nice meeting you. Thank you for coming. I'm so excited to be here. It's so hot here, so come on in. Oh, I would love that. Thank you. So, Miki, this is your workshop, Goen? Right, Goen is the name. Yeah, a lot of people ask about the name because it's written in Western language. And here in Japan, that's not very common, as I see it. Right, right. I picked the word because the pronunciation of the word is the same as the Japanese word goen. Goen means serendipity, like happenstance, something that you encounter by accident, nothing planned, but it's something so wonderful that gives you that happy moment. Oh, that's beautiful. I love that. Absolutely. Thank you. So, tell me about your studio. A big part of our studio is actually providing handmade authentic Japanese tools for lycocraft and kintsugi craft. Oh, very cool. Well, as somebody who adores tools, can you show me some of those? Sure, yeah. These are cherry wood spatulas. Okay. And we custom-sized this because kintsugi is such a small detail craft. I see, so you've adapted the traditional tool for kintsugi specifically. Right. I mean, this is a very traditional tool that people use for kintsugi or makie for powdering the gold. So, this is the tool, which is like a little seed. Oh, I see. Yeah, like a mesh here. Oh, brushes. Handmade brushes. Oh, yeah. Japan has the best handmade brushes. These are called cat hair brush. Cat hair brush. So, it's still made with cat hair. Really? Cat hair? Yes, cat. Like meow. White cat. Wow, I've never seen a cat hair brush. It's not disposable. It's a handmade adjustable product. Wow. So, you can adjust the length of the brush hair and it makes cleaning also easier. Oh, yeah. You can just take the hairs out and clean them and this is gorgeous. So, anything you see here, there is a specific artisan that has a history or heritage in making them. When you fall in love with the craft like kintsugi and if you go deeper and look into every single tool, you are actually supporting that industry of artisan as well. If you learn or practice traditional craft, you are also sustaining a whole infrastructure of makers. It's not just the object, but it's the people who make it, the families, like you said, the society, the history of it. The object may be the starting point or the vessel for that story, but the story goes much deeper. Right. A lot of the industry for tools, there's only like a handful of artisans. If the older artisan kind of passed away, some of the family business is like, well, that's it. No more. Sure. And what teenager wants to go into making brushes instead of becoming a YouTube star or something. And it's pretty common in Japan right now. It's not only this section. Anything you see over there is facing the same problem. Is there any government intervention to help sustain these crafts? They are, but then Japan in general, I think every single industry has the same problem. We don't even have enough doctors or caregivers. Hopefully it's not an either or, hopefully it's a both and. So you're trying to keep craft alive by supporting the local artisans who make these beautiful tools, these beautiful boxes, traditional Japanese craft. But you are also keeping the product of their craft alive with kintsugi. So Miki, for a layperson like myself, what is kintsugi? The most general description or explanation is golden joinery, because that's literally what the word means. If you ask me, kintsugi is a very small branch of a larger craft, which is lacquer craft. Everybody talks about the gold. That's the big word. But then it's just one style. Because other than kintsugi, there is a wide variety of other ways to repair or different aesthetics. There's kintsugi, there's urushizugi, there's yakitsugi. So there's just different material, different style, different aesthetic. So that's what you do here in your studio, is the practicing of kintsugi as part of the larger lacquer crafts? Right. Kintsugi, it's a lot of the work, but I also do a little bit of makie and some lacquer craft as well. So you mentioned lacquer craft, and kintsugi is a part of the lacquer craft family. Lacquer craft is? Lacquer craft is, well, lacquerware. I mean, a lot of people, if you go to Japanese restaurants, you drink miso soup and things. That's actually lacquer craft. It has a wood core inside. There's a whole industry of people who create these wares. So it's painting gazillion layers of Japanese lacquer. And it all starts from the tree that provides the sap or the resin to give you lacquer. So a lot of people just think that this is pottery work, especially in outside of Japan. This craft was picked up by a lot of potters because there isn't any lacquer craft outside of Japan, right? So the closest people that can relate to that kind of work are ceramists and potters. For me, it's providing that option there. If you enjoy or if you really love this craft, what are you also bringing to help this craft? So that's what you do here. Would you mind showing me? Sure. Yes. Yes. A lot of people teaching kintsugi, they give you like a kit, you know, because this is what they market and this is what they sell. Right. So we just open a kit and there are all the tools. But here, this is actually the tools that I use myself. So we actually get to touch and feel and try and experiment on your own. And so you see how easy or difficult it is. So you're going to trust me with your tools? Of course. Okay. You can have a seat there and we can start. After donning the necessary protective equipment, the urushi resin from the Japanese lacquer tree at the heart of kintsugi is an irritant related to poison ivy. Miki walks me through how the different adhesives are chosen and mixed. For some repairs, basic urushi is sufficient. For others requiring more structural stability, various fibers and fillers must be added to fortify the adhesive and ensure the durability of the repair. Let's start with mugi. So in your case, it's wheat flour with water. Water. So you would use a little palette knife and add a little bit of water and create a tiny little dough. Like we call it mimi. Okay. Like mimi means ear. Okay. Oh yeah. You just keep adding and calibrating until you get it. I think I have my mimi. This is raw urushi. Start mixing your urushi into your paste. Now how long after the urushi has been introduced do you have to work? It's a very slow curing process. Okay. In a controlled environment, it takes about five days. Oh wow. That's how slow. Very forgiving. Right. Okay. If you apply it too thick, the surface cures first. Yeah. Then you get a wrinkled surface. Just like oil paint. If you leave oil paint out, it forms an outer skin. Yeah. So it's exactly like that and urushi wrinkles. So that's why the whole reason of putting it in the box with high humid. To control, to slow. The humid slows it down. Pays it. It pays the the curing. So you would want to get this to a consistency where it's kind of like pulling string cheese. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got it. That's it. Mugi urushi. That's your glue. This is my glue. This is the base. Yeah. All right. So you would save half of it for kokuso. Right. And then use some of it to try piece this together. Usually before you repair, if you have a freshly broken pieces, you want to clean the edges. Right. Make sure that they're receptive. Right. Because you may have loose charts. You see it's still falling. Right. So you want to clean up all the edges. And that's also the time where you can modify the shape a little bit to however you desire or make your life easier when bonding. Yeah. So you use just some some small files. Right. If something is broken and you're putting glue or whatever substance in between, there's actually no room for that. That's right. Right. So whatever you press it, it's going to squeeze all out. Create a space for the adhesive and also. So your bond will be stronger. Yeah. It always feels weird to, in the repair process, remove material. Isn't it? Yeah. But it's part of it. It's necessary. Right. Right. And then you can apply your glue to that piece. Now, do I apply it to the larger piece, the smaller? You need to apply on both sides. Yeah. You decide which tool works best for you. You know, a smaller tip or sometimes toothpicks, you know. And again, there's no right way. Just what's no right way. There is a tidy way or messy way. Right. Because afterwards, like cleaning up once this is dried and cured, like you're going to scrape it clean. You know, you don't want to make more work for yourself. Right. So that's why there are easier, cleaner, more delicate ways to apply. Well, I would assume you don't want to waste material. Right. And it also depends on a person. Not everybody is so handy. So it really depends. So you apply on one side and then you apply on the other side and then you just piece it back together and tape. A lot of tape. Yep. Yeah, you are. You're a natural. So that's exactly that's that's all you need. Supposedly next step, if this is the only repair, then it goes into the chamber for about five days. And the chamber is where it controls temperature and humidity to allow it to cure properly. Right. Exactly. You can't do anything here for this particular piece. So each piece is different. But in this piece, there's nothing I can do here. This will be future parts. So that we would use the corksaw. Yeah. Yeah. Corksaw to because I will gauge, you know, sometimes if there's something this small, I can go right ahead and use Sabi because this one doesn't have much structure going on. It's more like just rebuilding the edge. I can do Sabi. Sometimes this is debatable. Oh, this is kind of big. It's kind of not. So you you have to decide in this size for this particular size, I would say, yeah, I would use corksaw first and then Sabi over it. So in this case, you throw it in there and wait for five days and then you can continue the next step, which is cleaning it up. Corksaw is your leftover Mugi with wood powder and hemp fiber. Right. So this is Elm. Yeah, this is Elm. And then this is hemp fiber. Yes. And so between the wood powder and the hemp fiber, you're adding a lot of physical structural support. Right. So this is kind of like the straw in the mud brick. Yeah. Right. So wood powder proportion. Again, it's like supposed to be one to one, but then I would also go by however it feels. OK. It's about, yeah, getting that consistency where you can still apply, but then you can always add more. Yeah. Take it out. And you also want it to be able to stand up that doesn't flop over. So that's kind of the consistency I would be looking at. So hemp fiber, you will want something like this short. Oh, wow. Really, really small. Depending on how much you use. Yeah. Then you would mix that in. So this is an incredibly slow process. I trust that there's no way to speed it up, that you just have to trust the process and be OK with that. Yeah. I mean, people who cannot handle this speed of work, they will go reach for those epoxy type of things. Right. But for those who really enjoy this craft, it's because of the slowness, because you're in that moment. People can talk about the whole wabi-sabi, your broken life, can be repaired, all those philosophy as much as they want. But the therapeutic part could also be the slowness of this craft, the time it takes to create every little small steps. It sounds a lot like the practice of Zen. Yeah, yeah, it is. Fully engaged, being in complete control of your movements, your breath, your decision making process. Right. And being clear of distraction. Right. And just consumed. Right. You have to be in complete focus to do it. You spoke about how the wellness industry has taken control over kintsugi and kind of distorted it. Yeah. They focus on only one part. There's more to it. Yeah. Because I don't want to say they're wrong, what they're focusing is wrong. It's just, it's subtle here. We don't constantly preach or talk about it. It's just a way of life. All right. Well, I think I've probably built up as much as I can on this path. So I will give it to you. Perfect. Thank you for your hard work. Yeah. Yeah. That looks pretty good. Yeah. One step closer. So literally what I would do after this stage is sabi. So once that's cured and it's fully built up. Because I think what I need is kind of like the skeletal structure. Sure. And before you can apply the sabi, there's sanding involved, right? Removing excess if you need. Right. Exactly. If certain area, this is too high, you know, I need a little room for my sabi, then I will cut it. By sanding, because kokuso, there's no way you can get it to a fine shape because kokuso is so rough, right? But then sabi is the top coat, top layer of pillars that will give you whatever shape you need to rebuild, you know, like the edges and stuff like this edge is a sabi. So this is a very soft material that you can use it to recreate a lot of the edges, the forms. Yeah. It's more delicate. It's easier to sand, to sculpt it back to whatever shape you like. On the tool, it feels really lovely. Right. So that's, yeah, that's about right, I think. Yeah. You can try pile it to create that lip, to fill that whole lip. Okay. But now this won't be as structurally sound. Right. So it's much more fragile as a final repair. Right. And it's okay to pile up more than you need for sabi. Because it's soft and it can be sanded back. Right. And then sabi shrinks. Oh, okay. A little bit. So you may pile up a lot, but then it kind of shrinks a little, so you get a little less. And then you're like, oh, I need to do another round. So I don't have to worry about perfection on the first try. So this one is kind of like playing with cake icing. That's what it feels like. Yeah. So you can use your palette knife to create a nicer curve. I mean, it won't be perfect, but. But eventually we've built up enough that we end up here. And then this needs to be sanded smooth. Yes. And that's done with. In traditional craft, we use artisanal charcoal. So these are magnolia charcoal. Oh, wow. That is made by hand. And then after many rounds of applying and sanding and applying and sanding, you end up with a surface that is. Once you achieve that perfect, you recreated that trim or whatever detail you like, then it's ready for the lacquer coating. And that's the Urushi. That's the red or the black Urushi. Once the Urushi color is chosen, it's strained through fine paper, either natural or synthetic, to eliminate any clumps or debris that would otherwise mar the perfect surface required to receive the gold. Using the cat hair brush, a layer of Urushi is applied and allowed to dry until the surface is just tacky. It is only then that the delicate gold powders can be applied. So can I take my gloves off now? Yes, yes, yes, yes. So this is a gold that's been pulverized. Yes. And it comes in different carrots, different colors. Is it like gold leaf in that respect? Yes, this is actually blue gold. Yeah, it's got a much more cool undertone to it. Yeah, because it has silver in it. Now you are ready to, I would suggest practice first, right? Okay, it's probably a good idea. We have a small kebo. Kebo is the sprinkling brush. If you use the round powder, I would let you try this. You can try that. But this is not round powder. So that's why we use this brush. We also use cotton, silk cotton. So you can also dab it. Silk, it's more finer. So when you use it to dab your powder, it's not going to create marks. So practice first. We hold it with two fingers and you slowly kind of tap. Okay. And that will release the powder. Gotcha. If you master this way of holding the brush, it preps you to use this tool. Let's see. My heart is pounding right now. And the reason we want to dust it is to get a very fine, even layer. Because the surface is so refined. The lacquer is so refined. So if you put a sudden weight to it, it's disrupt. That makes a lot of sense. But I can notice that the texture that I'm getting, the surface is really beautiful. It's really even. Like I said, the whole craft is a really elegant and delicate craft. There's a lot of respect for the material. A lot of questions come in. How can I get to that detail and get to that level of smoothness? It's so hard to explain in an email or in an Instagram post, you know. But then, it all depends on understanding the material, how the material behaves, and using the right tools and with the right techniques. Okay. So speaking of the right tools, I think a pretty good technique? Yes. You are very good. You're natural. Okay. So then what? Okay. So now you have all the excess, right? So you need to remove that. And so it's just like sweeping from left to right to remove the excess and also even out whatever landed there. It's so fine, the gold, that I can see it almost smearing. I can see where maybe the surface of the glaze had maybe some oils on it from my hand because the gold is sticking to that. Yeah. So you are brushing in one direction. Oh, and I have to go. I would do like left, right, left, right. I got you. Okay. So then after I have brushed all of the excess off, the next step is the silk. Yes. So you want to kind of lightly tap the silk ball onto the powder a little bit and then lightly tap it to do a final touch to kind of press it down a little more, but without too much weight. It needs three, five days for the urushi to polymerize, to cure. And then actually there's a final, final step because now you have all these exposed gold powder, very delicate. You want to protect it, right? Because you can easily scrape it off. So we would paint a very, very thin coat of the brown lacquer because the brown lacquer is going to cure transparent, right? Right. Right. So that becomes the sealant. Okay. Gotcha. All right. So this needs to go and cure. Yes. Good job. So after that piece gets cured and the urushi polymerizes, then we would come back and do one final coat to seal it. And then this looks appreciably shinier than what I put down. How is that done? There are several methods and several materials. One of the most traditional way is, you know, deer antler. Back then people used antler powder, grind it to a fine dust, and you use finger with oil. And just create a, like a pumice. Yeah. Yeah. Pumice. Yeah. So that you can get this to shine. Wow. Just with your finger. It's that fine. And then we have this. Everybody loves this tool. This is fish tooth. A tooth? Sea bream. Yeah. So that's the burnishing tool that we use. It's good to have friend that is a sushi chef. You get unlimited supply. Then the piece is ready to go home? Yes. Finished. So depending, when you add design to it, the fun part is sometimes the shape of the damage kind of gives you an idea to do design. So for me, this one keep looking like a fish. So when I repair it, it wasn't a fish, but then I keep repairing it. I said, wait, this looks like a koi fish. That's what maki is about, right? Painting with sprinkling gold. Wow. This has been one of the singularly greatest experiences I've ever had. I feel like I have seen so much information. It's gone so much deeper than I ever could have on my own. I think it's really easy to stop at the gold and to see it as beautiful or to see it as something that embraces imperfection like we talked about, but to understand the entire process, to understand how and why it feels that much more special. Right. Yeah. So it's a complete different layer of experience compared to just achieving this final part because a lot of people say, I just want to know how to polish the gold, right? But before we even get to this part, we have to go through and understand and perfected this part first. This is something that I believe in and something what my sensei inspired or taught me to do way back. I was discussing with him about kintsugi kits. It's so easy for us to create our own. And then immediately I was like, no, my sensei said, don't go that way. Don't go that route. Even as of now, I would still say, sorry, I don't sell kits because everybody comes to me and asks, can you create your own kits and sell kits? And I was like, no, I don't do hobby kits. I'm sorry. You know, we have set certain routes in teaching this craft or in practicing this craft. And that's where we are. And I feel incredibly humbled that you allowed me to come into your space to see this process, to teach me, to educate me, to let me try. I've learned a lot here that I'm going to take back to my studio and I think that it's going to make me a better and more sensitive conservator. So thank you for everything, Miki. It's my pleasure. You are a natural. You're so good. Spending the day with Miki in her workshop, I feel honored and incredibly humbled. I also feel bonded to a craft that survived for centuries. But I'm also aware that one day in the presence of a master can only give me a taste, but it can spark a fire. And I don't think that this is the end of my experience with Kintsugi.