Over the past five years, serving thousands of people endless cups of tea, one thing we have always tried our best to do, when our capacity allows, is to make sure you can enjoy tea from ceramic tasting cups or glasses.
Beyond minimizing the environmental impact of our gatherings, we believe these objects serve as a conduit to stories and to our connections with nature and culture, much like the tea we love. It is in the shape of the body, the angle of the rim, the weight of the material, the way a cup sits differently in our hands across the seasons, and the many other intentions held in the making of each piece.
In the process of collecting, cleaning, and distributing these cups, we have broken and chipped many, inevitable, like so many aspects of life. We have been gathering the broken ones, reflecting on how we might add beauty to this journey of sharing the art of tea.
When we met makomako two years ago at Summer Tea, something set us on a path toward sharing more beauty in the common things around us.
Join us for tea and to bring any broken or chipped ceramic cups you received at our Summer or Winter Tea events, so we can gather as a community to learn the art of repair and experience the journey of mending and healing together.
Free event. Limited seats. Registration is required and starts on May 13.
Please arrive 15 minutes early, and we'll walk over to the pottery studio in Building A as a group.
Meet makomako
“ I’m not merely mending objects, I’m restoring memories.”
makomako is a New York–based Kintsugi artist and instructor specializing in the authentic art of golden joinery.
She is recognized for her expertise in restoring ceramics and diverse materials, including porcelain, Yixing clay, bamboo, agate, jade, and glass, using natural urushi lacquer and precious metals. Each repair is both functional and poetic, transforming fractures into visible landscapes of memory.
Her practice is rooted in traditional craftsmanship. While shaped by training under renowned urushi master Gen Saratani and with master artisans in Japan and China, she remains committed to developing her own refined, quiet, and restrained aesthetic. She favors the use of urushi lacquer, a beautiful, durable, sustainable material rooted in Asian tradition and drawn from the life of the tree, as well as other natural materials. She has also participated in urushi tapping in Joboji, one of the few regions in Japan where natural urushi is still harvested.
Her work is recognized for its deep respect for the original character of each object. Selected exhibitions include Contemplating at Ease (theBLANC, 2023) and IROHA Lake of the Heart (CIBONE Brooklyn, 2023). In addition to private commissions, she leads workshops and collaborations across New York and New Jersey, sharing the quiet philosophy of wabi-sabi and the enduring spirit of Kintsugi with a wider audience.
Six spots for each class will be available for registration for participants intersted to learn the art of Kintsugi.
Intro class (registration start on May 26)
June 27th, 11am -1:30pm
or June 27th, 2:30-5pm
Multisession continuing classes (registration start on May 26) *Intro class is required.
July 11th, August 1st and Aug 5th, 2-4pm
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Special thanks to our program partner
MakerSpace NYC is a non-profit, community workspace for makers, builders, tinkerers, hardware developers, hobbyists, artists, entrepreneurs, and anyone with a curious mind who wants to make something.