Yaqi Dai

Ever since I was a child, my family has enjoyed collecting all kinds of porcelain. Whenever we go out to travel, we will collect local porcelain with characteristics. Each collection not only carries a piece of culture and history but also contains memories about my family and travel.

However, after three moves, each move resulted in some damaged and broken porcelain. We didn't want to throw these pieces away so some of them were saved and used to decorate the corners of the house or plain vases. On the one hand, we did not want the memories of the porcelain to disappear, and on the other hand, we hoped that they could have a new mission which is creating and witnessing new memories.

I was inspired by the Kintsugi philosophy which is finding beauty in imperfection and impermanence. Both concepts emphasize acceptance and harmony with the natural order of things and this is also the message that I want to convey in my final designs.

The original meaning of Kintsugi is to face imperfect things with an almost perfect means to treat. Gold color represents a posture, and attitude, with the world's most valuable color to face defects.