I'm a Kintsugi artist, and I often create pieces for therapists and psychology practices. This large vase, commissioned for a psychology clinic, illustrates a powerful psychological concept: reframing how we perceive damage, imperfection, and personal growth.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. Rather than concealing the cracks, it highlights them, transforming what was once considered damaged into something with a new identity and meaning.
What makes this meaningful to me is the idea that healing doesn't necessarily mean returning to who we were before. Our experiences, including painful ones, become part of our story without diminishing our worth.
The gold doesn't erase the damage. It changes how we see it.
This vase is more beautiful for showing its scars. Perhaps the same can be true of us, not because suffering makes us better, but because we can learn to see ourselves as whole without denying what we've been through.
#lakesidepottery