Tsugu Kit, a traditional kintsugi kit for beginners by Tsugu Tsugu Inc., has been purchased by people not only in Japan but also all over the world.
Recently, we have been receiving an increasing number of inquiries about wholesale sales of the kintsugi kits. Therefore, I summarize the details.
1. This article is useful for...
- Companies that sell their products through online websites or stores in Japan as well as overseas.
- Private owners who hold kintsugi classes and wish to provide kintsugi kits to their students.
- Companies/communities that plans to hold a large-scale kintsugi workshop or wants to purchase kintsugi kits in bulk to provide to a large number of employees as a welfare program
2. What is Tsugu Kit? How to choose?
Our kintsugi kits were developed to enable beginners to perform traditional Japanese kintsugi on their own.
The kit uses only natural materials, so it is food-safe to use on tableware.
In addition to the all-color instruction manual with many photos in both Japanese and English, we offer free YouTube tutorial videos (in both Japanese and English) for easy understanding.
The stylish and compact packaging, with the tools neatly arranged in the kit, has been well received by customers, who are motivated from the moment they receive the kit.
There are a total of four types of kits available (among these, three types are sold overseas), depending on the gold and silver powder content. All kits use the same materials except for the gold and silver powders and the attached silk ball(s).
How to choose a Tsugu Kit
1. Traditional Tsugu Kit
The most popular overseas is the Traditional Tsugu Kit (Japanese name: Premium Tsugu Kit). It contains 0.3g of gold powder and 0.5g of silver powder, and can repair the most vessels with not only gold finish but also silver finish. Since gold and silver powders are the first materials to wear out easily in Kintsugi, our kit, which contains the most of them, has been well received overseas because it saves you the trouble of purchasing additional materials and is more economical. Silver may suit bluish vessels, and you can also use silver powder as a practice for kintsugi, and finish only important/valuable vessels with expensive gold powder.
2. Gold-only Tsugu Kit
The next most popular type of the kit is the Gold-only Tsugu Kit. Originally, only the Traditional Tsugu Kit was sold to overseas customers, but this product was created in response to customer requests for more gold powder only, since silver powder is unnecessary to them. Since the “kin” of the word “kintsugi” means gold in Japanese, this product is popular among those who want to finish all their vessels with gold powder only.
3. Starter Tsugu Kit
The third most popular product is the Starter Tsugu Kit (Japanese name: Tsugu Kit Gold). This kit is the most economical and comes with only 0.1g of gold powder. It is ideal for those who have a small number of vessels to be repaired or chipped vessels that are not highly damaged. If you want to do more Kintsugi, you can purchase additional gold powder or gold powder in Japan. Therefore, This product is the most popular in Japan, but the third most popular overseas, due to the high shipping costs overseas and the hurdle of purchasing additional gold or silver powder later.
(4. Tsugu Kit Gold&Silver)
Finally, Tsugu Kit Gold&Silver, sold only in Japan, contains 0.1g of gold powder and 0.2g of silver powder. This product is popular among those who want to start kintsugi at a reasonable price but do not want to run out of metal powder too quickly, as it allows them to kintsugi or silver-joint more vessels than the Tsugu Kit Gold.
The number of vessels that can be repaired with kintsugi depends on the degree of damage to the vessel, so it is difficult to say "how many vessels can be repaired in a kit “ in general.
This is because the surface area to be sprinkled with gold or silver powder is larger when the vessel is highly damaged, then it consumes more powder.
Comparison among our kintsugi kits
However, it is also possible to finish the kintsugi with black or bengal-red urushi lacquer without sprinkling gold or silver powder at the end. If black lacquer is used to finish a black vessel, the damaged part is less noticeable and is also called “Yami-tsugi," which is chic, and the repair is completed and the vessel can be used again.
3. Cautions on wholesale and bulk purchases of Tsugu Kits
It is well known to those who already took our kintsugi classes and are familiar with lacquer ware, but the urushi lacquer can cause a rash when it comes in contact with the skin. For this reason, we recommend that you always wear the rubber gloves during kintsugi. Although careful precautions are taken in the instruction manuals and materials, wholesalers should be aware of the possibility of urushi rash. It is told that this rash is similar to the one caused by poison ivy.
Urushi lacquer is a liquid. Since Japan Post cannot ship liquids to the U.S., Canada, and some other countries, we use Fedex to ship worldwide. If you are purchasing from overseas, please be aware of your country's restrictions on shipping liquids.
Lacquer is considered a hazardous material and may not be shipped internationally. For this reason, we have SDS (Safety Data Sheet) in Japanese and English, which we provide to the shipping company for worldwide shipment. Sometimes, people use international forwarding companies to purchase Japanese products, but those companies do not have this SDSs, so it is smoother to purchase directly from us.
Urushi lacquer (this product contains raw urushi lacquer), the most important material for traditional kintsugi, is a natural product and should be used up within one year from the date of manufacture. Also, please be careful to control the temperature, as the quality of the product will deteriorate if it is placed in a place with a high temperature of over 30 degrees Celsius. Only if a product remains in stock for more than one year, we sell the replacement of this raw urushi lacquer at a lower price than usual (the price varies, so please consult us each time). Of course, the wholesale price is set lower if you purchase a large quantity at once, but please order in just enough quantity to ensure that fresh lacquer is delivered to the customer who will actually use the Tsugu Kit.
Customizing Tsugu Kits
As a special service to private owners and business owners who hold kintsugi classes and wish to provide tsugu kits to their students, we can change the contents of the tsugu kits (for example, we can add diamond files to the tsugu kit, 10g of pre-made black lacquer tube, and/or 7g of pre-made bengal-red lacquer tube instead of black powder and bengal-red powder, etc.)
However, since these products are specially made to order, please allow about one month for delivery after receiving an order, and the price of a customized tsugu kit will vary depending on the contents (the price may be increased). Please consult with us first.
4. Wholesale price for bulk purchases of Tsugu Kits
Discounts are not applied to the sale of only one kit.
When 2 to 9 kits are purchased, the wholesale price will be 80% of the list price.
When 10 kits and more are purchased, the wholesale price will be 70% of the list price.
The above prices do not include shipping costs. Buyers are also responsible for any customs duties.
Since the exchange rate is subject to fluctuation, we use Japanese yen as the base currency. Please pay in Japanese yen as much as possible.
However, if you wish to pay in dollars from outside Japan, it is possible, although some fee will be added (especially for Paypal payments).
Please let us know the payment method in advance.
As for payment methods, we accept bank transfer with invoice (buyer should pay the handling fee) and credit card payment. We will send an email with a payment link so you can pay online with your credit card. Bank transfer needs additional ¥2000 of the transaction fee.
If you purchase through our overseas shopping website, the commission fee of the website will be added to the total amount. Please contact us in each case due to fluctuations in exchange rates. We will create a dedicated page for this service.
All orders must be paid in advance and will be shipped as soon as the payment is confirmed.
Shipping time
If we will ship fewer than 10 kits immediately.
However, please allow at least 3 business days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays) for international shipments.
10 or more than 10 kits, we may need few weeks to ship depending on the stock.
The price of tsugu kits themselves fluctuates due to the continuous rise in the market prices of gold, silver, and lacquer.
Please note that the price may increase when you purchase Tsugu kits on regular basis.
5. How to purchase large quantities or sell wholesale Tsugu Kits
Please contact us from the inquiry form below.
We would appreciate it if you could provide us with information about your company or yourself so that we can deliver Tsugu kits to you with confidence.
- For companies that sell wholesale: Please attach your store information and the URL of its sales website/your company's website.
- For those who wish to purchase for Kintsugi classes: Please provide us with your website or detailed information.
- If you are planning to hold a large-scale kintsugi workshop or would like to purchase kintsugi kits in bulk to provide to a large number of employees as a benefit: Please provide details of what kind of event you plan to hold, if possible.
We can provide photos of our Tsugu Kits and kintsugi vessels for free only if you use them to introduce our products. (Please note that not all of the photos you see on our website can be provided because some of them are not available for secondary use. Please contact us if needed.
Kintsugi, the art of repairing precious objects with one's own hands and finding new value in them, is attracting a great deal of attention in Japan and abroad. Kintsugi goes beyond mere vessel restoration, with philosophies such as "finding beauty in imperfection" and "using flaw as strengths to overcome them”.
We hope that this "Tsugu Kit" will contribute to inspire to as many people as possible, transcending national borders.
An example of an inspiring voice from overseas:
"One day, my wife broke a memorable bowl. I secretly collected the pieces, purchased a tsugu kit, and repaired it with kintsugi without telling to my wife. It took several months to complete the process, but when I presented my wife with the revived vessel on her birthday, she burst into tears of joy."
Kintsugi is not something that can be done overnight. It takes a lot of time and effort.
As a Japanese, I am very proud that this technique, which has been handed down in Japan since the Muromachi period (15C), has gained so much attention from the world.
The reason why we have decided to reduce the price of our kintsugi products for bulk purchases or wholesale sales is not only to expand our sales network, but also for those who share our belief in the beauty of kintsugi, to spread the word to as many people as possible about its charm and the option of using kintsugi instead of just throwing things away. I hope that you will share in the charm and joy of Kintsugi.
Thank you for reading this article. - Yuki