Kintsugi

Kintsugi is a Japanese art form of repairing broken pottery by covering the chipped area with urushi lacquer, with gold, silver, or platinum added. This tradition carries a special philosophy: the breakage is part of the life and history of the object, and should not be hidden.

Issa Watanabe’s Kintsugi, winner of the BolognaRagazzi Award 2025 in the Fiction category, is wordless, metaphorical, and a bit arthouse, it conveys a unique mood and depth. The book shows that beauty can be found in imperfection. It reminds us that pain is an integral part of life, and after any fall we need to get up with our heads held high and shoulders straight, continue on our way, without dwelling on the collapse.