The Kintsugi Upgrades project imagines an alternate future where ancient artifacts are discovered by a more advanced civilization than us who rebuild and augment them with enhanced technologies.

The ancient Japanese art of Kintsugi – which literally translates to “join with gold” – perfectly embodied the spirit of these objects. Through the process of repair and reconstruction, we imagined these objects being even more valuable than the original.

This project began when we came across high quality 3D models of ancient cultural artifacts that had been scanned by internationally recognised museums. We digitally shattered the artifacts and then began reassembling them with new features and components that at we thought might be the type of technology a more advanced society might have.