Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

When architect Juan Jofre Lora founded his architecture firm, he chose the name Esmero—a Spanish word that roughly translates to “with utmost care.” As he explains it, “that means being really thoughtful about materiality and how things are built.” With a 95-acre property in the Hudson Valley that had a lone, unfinished carriage house, Jofre Lora found the ideal inaugural project to express that philosophy.

“The original owners worked for oil and gas company Esso, whose mascot was a tiger, and when they retired the tiger from their marketing campaigns, it lived in the carriage house,” explains Jofre Lora of the upstate New York property’s storied origins. When his clients, a young couple, purchased the so-called Tiger House, he was able to salvage the original foundation and steel structure to turn it into a home.

For ease of maintenance, the couple decided on a concrete floor with radiant heat, and Jofre Lora suggested pouring it directly atop the existing slab. This saved money, but came with a tradeoff. “We all knew the concrete was going to crack, especially around the doors and in corners,” says Jofre Lora. “But rather than be worried about the cracks, we decided to embrace them and make them a feature of the home.”

Working with Hana Tajima and Colin Moore Bradley of design-build firm Maru Projects, Jofre Lora set out to highlight the cracks with a gold kintsugi detail. Traditionally used in Japanese pottery, kintsugi is a method of repairing cracks with a gold lacquer, showcasing rather than hiding a break. Translating this method to concrete floors was a process of trial and error, but in the end, added depth to the home’s character. “It’s a ‘tell-the-tale’ detail that helps communicate the story of this place,” explains Jofre Lora. “When you’re inside and see these gold cracks, you feel encompassed by care.”

How they pulled it off: Kintsugi floor detail

Embrace the cracks: The home’s new concrete floor was poured atop an existing slab and covered a lot of square footage, so Jofre Lora knew there would be cracks. “Because we were pouring into an existing structure, as the concrete came close to existing corners, there was a high likelihood of cracking in those areas,” says the architect. One of the homeowners was born in Japan and has an affinity for Japanese art and design, so Jofre Lora’s idea to embrace those cracks with a Japanese-inspired detail felt like the perfect solution.

From ceramic to concrete: While kintsugi is traditionally used on ceramic pottery and consists of using lacquer mixed with powdered gold, Maru Projects’s Hana Tajima and Colin Moore Bradley knew they needed a different set of materials to translate the method to concrete, fearing the lacquer wouldn’t hold up under foot traffic. “We knew the traditional methods wouldn't really work, but also that we wanted to use real gold because nothing quite compares to that luster," says Moore Bradley. Tajima started by grouting all of the cracks. “It was a labor of love, because each line, even a hair’s breadth, needed to be painted three times,” says Tajima. The grout had to be painted with an undercoat, then an adhesive, then, after adding the gold leaf, again with a sealer.

Give it time: Because the process required so many coats, it took several long days to complete. The grout needed to set, and then the undercoat needed to set, too, before adhesive could be added. Tajima applied a specialized glue called “size,” which is used in gilding to create a smooth, tacky layer for the gold leaf to stick to. “It’s tricky to balance the working time of the size because it would dry much more quickly on the thinner lines, and no lines were uniform,” Tajima says. “But it became a sort of meditation and the kind of detailed work I love.”

Seal the deal: Because the kintsugi needed to hold up under foot traffic, Tajima and Moore Bradley used a clear acrylic topcoat to seal in the gold leaf. “As much as possible, I tried to make sure each grout line was ever so slightly recessed so that it wouldn’t wear as much,” Tajima adds.

Impermanence is a virtue: Even with the acrylic topcoat, there’s a chance the delicate gold leaf will eventually fade, especially when it interacts with cleaning products. “It’s all a bit of an experiment, and if it wears off, then it can be redone,” assures Moore Bradley. (And if new cracks appear, they can be filled, too.) A sense of impermanence, though, is what kintsugi is meant to highlight. “It gives you an appreciation for an object as a thing that is always becoming itself," says Tajima.

As small a detail as it is, the kintsugi adds to the home’s sense of craft and the evolution of the property. “There are a lot of handmade elements in this home, and each of those details tells the story of this place,” says Jofre Lora. “Every detail contains an underlying sense of care and slowness, which makes the place feel whole.”

Related Reading:

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How They Pulled It Off: A Park Slope Townhouse With a Dramatic Array of Not “Normal” Stone

Project Credits:

Architect of Record: Estudio Esmero Architecture / @estudioesmero

Builder: Silvercreek Construction

Structural & Civil Engineer: JT Chase Engineering

Lighting Design: SAGE AV

Interior Design: Estudio Esmero

Kintsugi Floor Detail and Custom Furniture: Maru Projects / @maru.projects

Also Appears In

How They Pulled It Off: Gold Kintsugi Fillings in the Cracked Floors of an Upstate New York Home