The vision of Academy Kintsugi is generational Kintsugi-Peace Making, a term coined by its President Haejin Shim Fujimura.  “Kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art form of mending broken tea ware by reassembling ceramic pieces, creates anew the valuable pottery, which now becomes more beautiful and more valuable than the original, unbroken vessel.”  (Art+Faith: A Theology of Making, Yale University Press, © 2020 by Makoto Fujimura).  Kintsugi makers do not hide the fracture of the past; rather, they mend it to make New.  Every fracture is an opportunity to make into the New.  In this regard, Kintsugi is applicable from a broken tea ware to a fractured relationship to a victim of violence to a historical conflict zone.  According to Haejin, Kintsugi-Peace is the beauty and justice brought out of fractures and conflicts by the courageous and generative community of makers and Kintsugi-Peace Making is “making” New Creation that is true, good, and beautiful, out of brokenness, conflict, and chaos. 

​​All attendees of our workshops and training courses are called Kintsugi Makers.  Once Kintsugi Makers complete a certification training, they are eligible to become a Kintsugi Instructor certified by Academy Kintsugi.  Kintsugi Instructors are qualified to conduct Kintsugi Experience sessions in collaboration with Academy, and may be invited to become Kintsugi-Peace Makers.

Academy Kintsugi teachers include Makoto FujimuraKintsugi Master Kunio NakamuraDr. Curt Thompson, M.D.Dr. Shann RayRev. James Hoxworth, and Haejin Shim Fujimura, Esq.

​​Kintsugi-Peace Making is a program of IAM Culture Care, a 503(c)(3) nonprofit organization that creates a new paradigm by lovingly tending to cultural soil and caring for artists as pollinators of the good, true, and beautiful.

The Kintsugi Kit

The Kintsugi Kits are only available through the Kintsugi Experience sessions led by Academy Kintsugi Certified Instructors.  Unlike the traditional Japanese lacquer which contains poison sumac, Academy Kintsugi uses a new Urushi that is cashew-based, which is safer and easy to use.  Master Nakamura has carefully gathered the materials in Japan that can be used by anyone, including children, so that anyone can begin their authentic Kintsugi journey.  The purpose of our Kintsugi Kits is not just to learn how to mend a broken bowl, but to see a light through the cracks, begin to rewire our brains to think generatively, and bring healing into our fractured world.