with Özlem Birkan
The ancient Japanese practice that refuses to hide the fracture — and chooses to gild it instead. The first chapter of Ateliers, a series by Perdue and Nautical on the art of living, one craft at a time.
Kintsugi begins where most things end: with a break. Instead of hiding the crack, the mender traces it in lacquer and gold, so that the repair becomes the most beautiful part of the piece.
What was fragile becomes a record of time — a story the object carries openly, rather than a flaw it tries to forget.
Grounded in the quiet of the forest and the sea, Perdue and Nautical opened a new series this spring, devoted to art and to the philosophy of living well. Each chapter brings one craft, one artist and a few hours with your hands in the material.
The first chapter belonged to Kintsugi — a practice that asks for patience, and gives back a different way of looking at what breaks.
Guided by the artist Özlem Birkan, guests gathered around one long wooden table in the garden: blue-and-white tiles, fine brushes, small jars of gold and the shade of the trees overhead.
Piece by piece, each person mended a tile of their own — slowly, carefully, following the line of the crack rather than fighting it. What left the table was not a repaired object, but a signed one.
The afternoon was recorded as a sensory micro documentary — the sound of brushes, the hush of concentration, the garden all around. It is a film to be heard as much as seen; turn the sound on.
“Through the cracks, the light finds its way.”Kintsugi · May 2026
Ateliers return through the season, each with a new craft and a new artist. Ask us about the next one — places at the table are few.
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