The Japanese art of Kintsugi is a curious one. Rather than hiding the cracks in ceramic items, it binds the pieces together again using precious metals and lacquers (the word itself translates as ‘golden joinery’). Popularised in the late 16th century - thanks to the rising popularity of Japan’s teahouses – it works its magic to transform a seemingly flawed object into something more precious than when it was originally wrought.
If I have Japan on the brain, it’s with good reason. I’m floating in an Onsen-like hot tub, under the stars on a sharp January night. The water’s been infused with mineral salts, and I’m feeling uncharacteristically serene and ready for the two-hour bathing ritual ahead of me. More curious is the fact that I’m not actually in an ancient hot spring town in the foothills of Japan – but in the Cotswolds, at Soho Farmhouse.
