Oxo Tower based wagumi will again offer workshops in Japanese crafts for LCW. This year will see the return of popular workshops in kintsugi, a method of mending ceramics with lacquer and metal powder. New for 2020, will be an opportunity to make Japanese style incense.
Kintsugi Workshop

For London Craft Week, wagumi in the Oxo Tower will offer an opportunity to connect with Japanese crafts. In particular this year it will provide workshops in kintsugi, and the making of incense. Kintsugi is a method to allow broken ceramics to attain a beautiful afterlife. It is a process that uses lacquer, sealants and metal powder to trace the lines of a breakage, and create something new. More than a simple act of restoration, kintsugi makes a features of the cracks formed in a moment of chance.

This touches on classic concepts in the Japanese decorative arts, such the impermanence of things, and beauty in imperfection. Kintsugi practitioner Iku Nishikawa will lead the workshops, and is able to instruct in the principles and techniques of kintsugi. The small group workshops to be held at wagumi, will offer accessible introductions to the method of ceramic repair.

Including some shortcuts, the sessions are intended as an entry to a deeper art. The format will allow for participants to work on Japanese ceramic fragments, that they will be able to keep. (Unfortunately, in the timeframe, it is not possible for participants to bring their own ceramics to the workshop to mend)