Against the backdrop of throwaway consumer culture, there’s a renewed interest in repair. Kintsugi, the centuries-old Japanese method of mending ceramics, goes beyond restoring functionality: The cracks are typically accentuated with gold powder, giving a once-broken object a conspicuous beauty. “It’s a visual representation of how it’s OK to not be perfect,” says Tina Koyama, the Kyoto-based founder of POJ Studio, which showcases Japanese crafts through curated home goods and artisan-led workshops. Its debut product in 2020 was a kintsugi kit. Since then, POJ’s kintsugi classes — with upcoming dates in Long Beach, Calif., and San Francisco, along with a four-day immersion at Shishi-Iwa House, a retreat with cabins in Karuizawa, an hour outside of Tokyo — have joined an evolving landscape of hands-on instruction. Traditional kintsugi uses a multistep lacquer technique known as urushi, made with sap from the poison oak family that dries to a durable, food-safe finish; embellished repairs are thought to have appeared on tea ceremony vessels as early as the 15th century. Gen Saratani, a third-generation urushi master and contemporary artist known for his museum-quality restorations, regularly leads four-week kintsugi courses in Long Island City, Queens. Yuko Gunji, who apprenticed under Saratani and now takes on kintsugi commissions full time, teaches out of her Brooklyn studio. (For details, email info@yukogunji.com.) Her students liken the workshops to “meditation time,” she says. Elsewhere, classes in an abbreviated version of kintsugi, using materials like epoxy putty and ceramic glue, are on offer, as at Chicago’s Heritage Museum of Asian Art. Both approaches keep treasured pieces in circulation. “Once you know kintsugi, you actually get excited about how the break looks,” says Koyama. “You can already imagine, ‘Oh, this is going to be so pretty.’”