Antique Imari Soba Choko – Kintsugi Restoration with 24k Gold A 200-year-old Imari porcelain soba choko, traditionally used for noodles or tea, restored using the traditional Kintsugi technique with 24-karat gold and natural Urushi lacquer. The vessel’s golden seams trace its history with quiet grace, complementing the indigo floral pattern to embody the Japanese ideal of beauty through imperfection.

This rare piece is both food-safe and watertight, offering the choice to use it for tea or display it as a functional work of art.

Medium: Imari porcelain, Urushi lacquer, 24k gold Origin: Japan, c. early 1800s (Edo period) Dimensions: Height 5.5 cm | Diameter 7 cm Food-safe and watertight. Hand wash only. Not microwave or dishwasher safe.

Artist’s Note I discovered this broken vessel in the antique section of a flea market in Tokyo in 2024. Though cracked and forgotten, I was immediately drawn to its quiet beauty and history. Restoring it with 24k gold and natural Urushi lacquer became a meditation on renewal — an act of honoring the 200 years it has already lived, and offering it another chapter. Today, it carries both its scars and its light, a reminder that what is broken can still become whole again.