Kintsugi

There’s an interesting concept in Japanese philosophy, kintsugi. Well, it’s actually an art of restoring broken pottery which at its core has the idea that if, say, you broke a cup, you can can glue it back together, but you can’t really hide the cracks. So, instead, let’s add some gold and lacquer to make them really visible and enjoy the result.

Philosophically, from what I understand, the metaphor extends to life disasters. Something really bad happened in your life and broke you? No point pretending it didn’t happen, now make a new and improved version of yourself.

Given the lack of organized religions in the world of Uncharred, the locals have multiple schools of secular philosophy. I’m pretty sure at least one of them, if not several, include a concept very similar to kintsugi.

And I kinda like the resulting aesthetics. Even on a goblet made in a hurry and with gold replaced by silver. I think next time I’ll include fewer cracks, though.