How to Repair Broken Glassware With Gold Resin Using the Ancient Japanese Art of Kintsugi

Prolific mixologist Kevin Kos explained the history ofKintsugi, the traditional Japanese practice of repairing pottery with natural resin mixed with gold, and shared how to apply it to broken bar glassware using a chipped glass and a broken mixing glass.

Don't throw out chipped or even broken glasses, fix them with gold instead. ...this Japanese technique dates back over 600 years. It's called kintsugi, and it's not only an art that turns damage into the most beautiful part of an object, but also a way for bars to save thousands of dollars with a single repair technique.

Once the glassware was fully cured, Kos prepared a gold-themed cocktail using it.

Once everything is together, let it cure, trim again any leftovers that may have spilled out, and apply the golden finish. With that, our mixing glass is fixed and ready to be used, and admired. But now that we have this beautiful glass fixed, it would be a shame not to use it for a golden throwback cocktail by making the 24k Gold Rush in it, served Kintsugi-style.

Kos spoke with various bar managers from around the world about the cost of broken glasses and how this method could save them thousands of dollars.

These numbers vary, but glassware is one of the hidden costs of running a bar. Some bars throw away 24 to 36 glasses in a busy week, others replace 10 to 15 glasses weekly. If we take an average of 10 to 15 per week, that's around 600 glasses per year, and at an average price of $7 per glass, that's a yearly cost of $4,200. On the high end though, high-volume bars can spend up to $18,000 per year on glassware alone.

Kos also found that several of these bars are employing this and other glassware saving methods.

Some bars are already taking action, with some torching edges or fully embracing kintsugi. Some are on pace to save hundreds of glasses per year this way, but kintsugi is not just about saving money. It's about choosing care over disposal and finding beauty in what already exists.

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