A Not So Trivial Trivet (or The Philosophy of Tile Repair)

A couple of weeks ago my husband broke a decorative tile trivet. It was a thoughtful gift from a good friend and he really liked it. He used it as a coaster on our living room end table, for his morning coffee (and in the evening for his glass of wine). So instead of tossing it in the garbage, he collected the broken shards in a plastic bag and put them on a shelf on “his” side of the basement.

The organizer in me refrained from reminding him that we actually have coasters that function very well as, well, coasters. Good call.

Then, coincidentally, he learned about Kintsukuroi (or Kintsugi), the Japanese art of pottery repair while listening to a podcast. He liked the idea that the cracks aren’t disguised. Instead, they’re filled with lacquer mixed with gold, silver or platinum dust, and made even more beautiful. In the article linked above, there’s reference to the hard work that went into the creation of these ancient vessels and a heartwarming appreciation to the lines and wrinkles we take on while aging. We liked that too.

While we don’t have precious metals laying around the house, he found a tile repair kit from a previous DIY project and went to work. In the spirit of Kintsukuroi, he has a new appreciation for displaying the repaired trivet and accepting its visible crack. I do too.