Kintsugi Washington DC Piggy Bank

24K gold leaf and contemporary Kintsugi methods. Sold as a set. Not food safe.

First Thoughts: What does a broken 🐖 🏦 mean to you? Does it matter what’s inside? Did you ever have a 🐖 bank? Symbols are an interesting aspect of life. I think they are a bit like faceted lenses we see the world though and each person and at various times in our lives we look though different facets of that lens. When I wanted to make a contemporary #kintsugi 🐖 🏦, I didn’t set out to find a used one online with a governmental symbol but this one was so cute! She was made in Japan.

Second Thoughts: She is broken but she cracks me up. When we are young, I think a piggy bank represents a few common themes like the belief we live in a society safe enough for us to have a future to save for. It means faith in a society that is trustworthy or at least that a sibling won’t run off with it. I remember this time when I was at the bank in Japan with my Japanese boss. We had met a few years prior when I working for the International Programs Office at the University of Idaho. At the bank, I went up to the teller to wire my earnings back to the US but darted back to the bench I’d been waiting at before because I’d left something of mine on the beach. My boss was surprised at my concern. She said people in her town would never steal what isn’t theirs. What I also discovered in my three months in Japan was people were incredibly generous. Perhaps there was a correlation between the integrity and generosity. As adults, piggy banks are often used in marketing around saving for retirement, pension etc., some of which are options available only based on where you work and laws starting at the center of government have a ripple effect on if we get to keep them. I’m not an economist but am quite sure inflation also factors into what savings amount to in the long run as well. If part of the financial systems we have created for ourselves as a society are broken, what do we need to fix them? Perhaps we start with truthfulness and justice and what else?