Finding Art of Kintsugi From Broken Dishes in My Restaurant

Only Cracked, not broken

It was one of those winter days when everything seemed to slow down. A heavy snowfall had blanketed the town, and a power outage brought my usually bustling restaurant to a quiet halt.

On that particular day, with no orders to prepare and no guests to serve, I decided to do something I often put off — taking stock of the crockery.

Our restaurant had a decent collection of dishes, but as I carefully ran my hands over each plate and bowl, I noticed that many had developed small cracks and chips, especially along the rims.

They weren’t shattered, but they no longer felt “fit for service.”

Normally, I would have discarded them without a second thought, but something made me try my creative side and pause this time. Instead, I set the damaged pieces aside — quarantined but not discarded.

These dishes had served countless meals, and in a way, they carried their own stories. There was a quiet beauty in their wear and tear, and I began to wonder if there was a way to preserve that beauty rather than erase it.

Later that evening, sipping warm tea by candlelight, I began researching ways to repurpose broken crockery. That’s when I stumbled upon the Japanese art…