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ABOUT

kintsugi gold powder being applied to natural tree sap urushi lacquer
Portrait of Clara Bethell-Sacks, Kintsugi Artist
White Japanese cherry blossom signifying new life and transience

Journey to Kintsugi

Art

In 1997 I finished studying Fine Art at the innovative and prestigious Chelsea College of Art in London and dived straight into a vibrant squatting, DIY culture, art, free-party and environmental direct-action scene. This marked the end of my formal artistic education and the beginning of a creative life, seeking liberation by challenging reality as I know it, looking beneath the surface and courageously allowing each new moment to be born.

Midwifery

Skip forward a decade and a half. I’m in another world again, and ten hours into a night shift on a labour ward in West Yorkshire…  The labouring woman I’ve been caring for and on good terms with all shift is shouting in my face to give her an epidural. She is suddenly wide eyed and restless and very, very certain that in no way whatsoever is she able to do this. Adamant repetitions of “I can’t do it” become a mantra interspersed with angry demands for pain relief. However, I deduce from careful observations over time that this woman and her baby are both coping well with labour. My experience tells me that she is very likely in a phase of labour called Transition – which is probably why she’s feeling so chaotic and scared, and most likely means she’s doing amazingly and is getting ready to birth her baby. I also know that getting an epidural to work for her at this point would be difficult and could even cause problems.  I breathe deeply and trust in the process. I massage her sore hips, listen in to her baby’s heartbeat, remind her again and again that she’s doing brilliantly… and hold space for her to do what she needs to do.  After she gives birth I support her to breastfeed her baby for the first time, gently and precisely suture her birthing tears, and wonder in awe with her at what she has achieved. She is full of joy, and I love being a midwife.

Breaking open

Years later, working in Gloucestershire, the stress of midwifery is starting to get to me, I'm overwhelmed, I’m in search of ways to relax. I discover Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with lacquer and gold. It is a gift. It is completely absorbing and very peaceful. Finally, something inside me breaks open and I leave my job...

Rebirth

Kintsugi transforms me. I can concentrate. Really focus. I can bring broken pieces back into a new, even more beautiful wholeness. I pay attention to the most minute details. I work ever... so... carefully. I discover I have almost infinite patience for the process, 20/20 vision and a remarkably steady hand. With Kintsugi I find myself allowing the wonder and beauty of real, imperfect life to shine; midwifing each piece into its new, precious form. 

 

Over the last decade I have learned my Kintsugi trade from respected traditional practitioners: Iku Nishikawa-sensei in Oxford (UK) and David Pike-sensei in Nara, Japan. My work is a synthesis of this deep (experiential) learning meshed with my fine art education, clinical training, and long spiritual practice. 

Breathing

My Kintsugi draws deeply on sitting meditation and movement practices, influenced by teachings from Shambhala Buddhism, the Tibetan Kagyu and Nyingma Buddhist lineages and Zen Buddhism. They help me to practise Kintsugi with mindfulness, acceptance and loving kindness. To try without trying too much. To gently set aside my perfectionist self and ego, out of the way of the mending process, leaving me free to offer my full attention and skill. 

With each piece I seek to express the basic goodness of the whole situation – the form and function of the original item, what it means personally to its owner, its life before the damage occurred and what is behind the owner’s desire to repair it, make it whole and create something even more beautiful than before.

 

I love practicing kintsugi in service and honouring of the meaning, memories and stories that each client brings with their precious piece. So that their beloved broken object can become a vibrant piece of Kintsugi art.

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