For my repair project I decided to fix a broken teacup. I sketched out multiple ideas of potential solutions to fix the teacup including; creating a new piece out of clay, wrapping the cup in colored string, and inlaying another materials such as fabric or glass.
In the end I decided to repair the cup using the Japanese art of Kintsugi. Kintsugi highlights imperfections and creates new meaning from broken pieces. I liked the idea of making the teacup have meaning once again, and also look more beautiful after it was repaired. While I was fixing my teacup, a mug in my dorm was accidentally shattered, instead of throwing it out as I might have done prior to the project, I also performed kintsugi on that mug as well. After putting the pieces to both cups back together and coloring them with gold, I decided to create a hanging apparatus for the teacup, transforming the object from simply a cup to a hanging planter. I love plants and have many hanging planters in my room, by repairing the teacup and giving the cup new purpose, the broken cup is once again important and relevant as I will use this piece as a decoration. The use of Kintsugi and the creation of a hanging structure made the original object much more beautiful and interesting as it transformed from a bland cup to an object with new meaning. Next time I may want to create a hanging structure for the other mug as well so both may be used for decoration in my room.
