Kintsugi & Origami with Kat McDowell

Kat McDowell is a Kintsugi Maker, Origami teacher and an award winning, chart topping singer songwriter who creates ocean pop music in a blend of Japanese and English.

Her love for singing and crafts came from her Japanese grandmother. Although Kat spent the majority of her twenties and thirties as a Musician and touring artist, she would always be handcrafting her own merch through making paper crane earrings or canvas paintings and making was always a part of her soul.

Kat wrote two songs in 2019 that would change the course of her life.

One was called "1000 Paper Cranes" written in honour of her grandmother who passed away, and "Scars" which was inspired by another Japanese artform called "Kintsugi" which is all about mending broken ceramics and highlighting the cracks with gold bringing beauty out of brokenness.

Both of these songs led Kat to dive deep in to these artforms, and as the pandemic halted all musical tours and performances, Kat started to teach these artforms virtually instead. Helping people find some relief during a very stressful season.

Coming full circle back to music "Kokoro no kakera" the Japanese version of the song "Scars" went on to win Grand Prize in the world section of the John Lennon Songwriting competition in 2021.

To Kat, the spiritual aspect of Kintsugi is just as important if not more than the craft itself. She loves how art can heal and touch the soul and wants to continue sharing this with the world.