“Japanese kintsugi—displaying flaws and revealing failures for everyone to see. Very noble—except I’m not a fan.” This, Zaleekhah knows, has always been the way with her uncle. He once described himself as an “upholsterer of imperfections”—covering stains, padding hard surfaces, softening edges, hiding cracks and holes. Almost as if every mistake were correctable, nearly every loss replaceable, and what remained rough, raw or ruptured should never be seen by others.
