"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Leonard Cohen

Last fall, I went with a friend to Field & Supply, described as a modern makers craft fair, in Kingston, New York. I had no intention of buying anything. I was more excited about helping a friend pick out some items for his home. 

But all that changed when I stepped under the white tent where DBO Home was set up. There I found hand built guitars, furniture, lighting and tabletop. On a massive wood table in the center of the tent was an ice bucket unlike any I'd seen. It had a chiseled look, a snowflake white glaze, removable leather handles (this spoke to me like a dress with pockets) and copper staples over a crack in the bowl that drew me in. I asked about it (I do that alot). 

Turns out when items came out of the kiln with a small crack, the husband of Dana the ceramist, had an idea. He tried an old world technique of stapling the crack; to not only make it usable again, but even more beautiful than it had been. Two handmade copper staples are drilled into the porcelain adding a touch of bling and mending the crack...and that's how their Mend Collection was born.

This concept of appreciating something so "perfectly imperfect” came up during a recent yoga class. The instructor spoke of Kintsukuroi, the Japanese art of mending pottery with gold. The mended flaws become part of the unique design, making it even more beautiful by highlighting the fact that the pottery had gone through the process of being broken and put back together. Each piece unique, with its own story. Just like us humans. In the process of repairing things that have been broken, you and I are actually able to create something more unique, more beautiful, and more resilient.