Why we never run out of brokenness

It has been five plus years since the tsunami and earthquake struck our beloved region; almost four years since we first started gathering together to see what treasures we might be able to make from the pottery left in its wake.  Here are a couple of photos from our first gathering: 

The natural frequent question is: "Have you run out of pottery yet?  What then?"

Thankfully, we are not worried, and well supplied.  We still have some bins of broken pottery that hundreds of volunteers helped to pick up the first couple of years after the disaster.  

And, we have had an ongoing supply from a local Ishinomaki secondhand store.  They receive many boxes of dishes, and give us the ones that they cannot sell or use.  They are so happy to donate these to our organization.  

We also occasionally receive donations from local friends and others who hear about our work and donate items (if you want to donate broken dishes/pottery to Nozomi Project, you can find our address here.  We cannot do special orders at this point nor cover the shipping costs, but we always love donations of new beauty in brokenness!).  This spring we were so touched by new friends in Kumamoto who, upon receiving help after the spring earthquakes that hit their region, have given Nozomi Project their broken items.  

So we don't expect to run out of pottery!  What we DO expect, however, is that our staff will continue growing in their skills and artisanship in making amazing jewelry out of broken pottery.... We suspect that our staff will continue making beauty from brokenness for making years to come.... And we are so thankful for our many friends who share the story of Nozomi Project and have helped us ship 25,000 products to 32 countries around the world!