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Kintsugi Connections: Sicily Meets Japan in Milan

On 25 October, The Columbist was honoured to join a unique cultural encounter in Milan at the gallery Spazio BIG Santa Marta (Via Santa Marta 10), a collaboration between Il Made in Sicily, Japanese artist Aya Oguma and the digital art project Issen.ten.

Elena Kaplyar-Balzer

Photo: Kintsugi workshop by Aya Oguma, Palermo

Titled “Kizuna: Cracks That Unite People - Kintsugi Between Sicily and Japan”, the event featured a live workshop by Aya Oguma, where she applied the art of Kintsugi not only to damaged ceramics, but ambitiously to new media: a print on aluminium created by Issen.ten that re-interprets the Sicilian icon Testa di Moro (literally “Moor’s Head”) as a symbol of cultural memory and renewal. The piece is part of the latest programme by Il Made in Sicily, positioning Sicily as a living bridge to global creative dialogues. 

Kintsugi (金継ぎ, literally “golden joinery”) is the Japanese technique of repairing broken ceramics with lacquer mixed with gold powder. Rather than concealing the damage, the repair becomes part of the piece’s history and aesthetic, embracing imperfection and transformation.

In this Milan event, Aya Oguma extended the technique beyond ceramics: using gold lacquer on metal prints and rather than simply restoring an object, she was restoring a concept, a cultural fracture, and a dialogue between East and West.

For Il Made in Sicily, the project strengthens their vision: linking Sicilian heritage, craftsmanship and identity to global narratives of art and technology. The collaboration with Issen.ten (which works at the interface of human intelligence and AI) adds a cutting-edge dimension to tradition.

As editorial partner of the initiative and contributor to Sicily Guide, The Columbist felt privileged to participate. The story aligns with our audience’s interests: innovative culture, design, creative cities, and craftsmanship with substance.

In a world often focused on the polished and perfect, this event reminds us that beauty emerges from imperfection. The gold-lined cracks of Kintsugi become not just repairs, but metaphors of connection between people, places, disciplines. From Sicily to Japan, it’s an artistic gesture that says: what breaks can also become stronger, more luminous, more human.

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