Annemie De Corte was 12 years old when she decided to become a jewellery artist. She graduated in goldsmithing and jewellery design from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp in 1989 and the National High Institute of Antwerp in 1992. She started creating her first silver wire works after several journeys through Indonesia: she was deeply influenced by eastern crafts and applied arts made by local craftspeople, who employ native materials to create their unsigned objects, which anyone can then use for everyday purposes. “I discovered the presence of beauty in these forms and techniques,” she says. Now, using traditional methods, she painstakingly shapes her own, delicate world of proportion, movement, light and shadow.

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Silver wire rings of various sizes were connected by clusters of small rings to craft this flexible structure that can be placed in different positions. Annemie's inspiration comes from her journeys through Indonesia. Her infinite admiration for the nature, architecture and crafts of that country stimulates her creativity and motivation.

Wirework, mobile object

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The 35 links of this sterling silver necklace are made up of 5,250 staples and small rings. The intricate weaving of silver wire is characteristic of Annemie's passion for Eastern crafts, also including basketry, which is a strong influence on her work.

Chain

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Seven segments made from sterling silver wire make up this sculpture inspired by bamboo structures common to Indonesian architecture as well as by bamboo fishing baskets. Annemie's keen interest in these constructions has driven her to expand the possibilities of jewellery design to more sculptural forms.

Cocoon

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This necklace is composed of 630 gold wire staples and 35 links, each one made of 18 smaller staples. The intricate weaving of gold wire is characteristic of Annemie's passion for Eastern crafts, also including basketry, which is a strong influence on her work.

Choker

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Annemie's interest in Eastern crafts inspired these two baskets crafted from hundreds of loops of silver wire attached to a thicker thread. Thanks to the design, the baskets are flexible, and the shapes can be changed.

Wirework, mobile baskets

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Helena Schepens discovered her passion for metalwork during a course at secondary school. “I loved the repetitive action of hammering, and how I felt the shape developing under my hands.” She later studied jewellery and silversmithing at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp before taking a master’s at the Royal College of Art in London. “In my objects, I create a structure that reveals the image and its shadow on the wall or on the underlying surface, as two equal principles,” she says. “Through this idea, as well as through the balance between the massive and openworked parts, I try to emphasise the underlying connection between two opposite concepts.”

Schepens, Helena

A meditation on silver

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For Clémentine Correzzola, finding herself without a job was a blessing in disguise. Until 2009, she had been working as a cinema projectionist, but the advent of digital technology put her out of business and gave her the opportunity to go back to her true passion: jewellery making. This was a craft she would have loved to pursue in her youth, but was forced to leave aside for more classical studies, as her parents wished. “I was and still am passionate about enamel and jewellery,” she says. “I am intrigued by the transformation of the raw material, the tools, the technique. I am thrilled by the challenge of trying to succeed even when I don't know what will happen, and by the ability of my brain and my hands to come together and create a different piece each time, each with a different way of seeing...”

Correzzola, Clémentine

Uniting enamel and jewellery

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Clarisse Bruynbroeck has been passionate about art and architecture since she was a child. A growing fascination for daily objects and the human body led her to study art jewellery design. The influence of fine art, design and architecture has always remained very important for her work. Clarisse uses traditional techniques in her own personal way. She also likes to accentuate the simplicity of daily life in her objects, which she does by leaving visible marks of the techniques she uses, like that of the blow of a hammer or of a soldering point. “I don’t aim for perfection at all, imperfections for me actually have an added value. I want to highlight the human touch in my work.” Clarisse founded her studio Woche, in Antwerp, in 2016.

Bruynbroeck, Clarisse

The visible marks of the human touch

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At the age of 14 years old, contemporary jewellery designer and silversmith Siegfried De Buck started his trajectory at the Ecole des Métiers d’Arts in the Abbey of Maredsous. Afterwards he perfected his studies at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg. When he launched his own studio in 1971, the movement to redefine jewellery had just started. The idea of a piece of jewellery being a sculpture for the body, as a  result of the artistic process, immediately resonated with him. Although this journey hasn’t always been the easiest one – the jewellery pieces were even called torture devices at one point, almost 50 years later the uomo universale is still passionate. He has taught his craft for 25 years and his pieces are part of museum collections around the world.

De Buck, Siegfried

Sculptural shapes

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Developed in partnership with Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte and made possible by the support of Cartier, Homo Faber in Città gives you a rare chance to visit over 70 artisan workshops. The project is developed in collaboration with Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Confartigianato Imprese Venezia, CNA Venezia, Consorzio Promovetro Murano, The Venice Glass Week and Venezia da Vivere.

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Step inside the workshops and ateliers to learn the secrets of local master artisans and manufacturers

Try your hand at different crafts with an authentic experience

Marvel at examples of fine craftsmanship by doing our itineraries

This september, the second edition of Homo Faber in Città invites visitors to step off the beaten track and discover the artisanal addresses where Venetian craftspeople create objects of exquisite beauty. A rare opportunity to witness Venice’s master artisans and young talents demonstrating their crafts and presenting the tools, materials and skills involved in contemporary Venetian craftsmanship.

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Homo Faber Guide is an online portal dedicated to contemporary craftsmanship, showcasing artisans, ateliers, museums, galleries, shops and experiences. Create your user account for access to exclusive features on Homo Faber Guide: save your preferred pages, hear about hot topics first, leave recommendations for your favourite artisans and much more.

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Although the Michelangelo Foundation researches the talents for its projects autonomously, collaboration with our ambassadors is fundamental. Over 120 associations, schools and institutions allow us to map the continents for craftsmanship and to have partners in each country who share our vision and goals. In addition, we have asked well-known personalities in the craft, design and art world to be our ambassadors in the cities where they live, so that their recommendations can offer a unique insight into craftsmanship in the major cities of Europe and beyond.

Who are our ambassadors?

Download our free Homo Faber Guide app (iOS and Android) to discover artisans, museums, galleries, shops, and experiences by location. Search Homo Faber on the App store on your mobile device.

Find craftsmanship destinations on the go

Discover the addresses of esteemed manufacturers, well known for producing high quality objects across a wide variety of crafts. Read their stories and find out where you can shop their contemporary pieces, see their archive collections and even in some cases visit their workshops. Find exceptional ateliers where artisans collaborate creatively to create fine pieces of craftsmanship. Reach out to them to commission something special.

Ateliers & Manufacturers

All the artisans and small workshops featured in Homo Faber Guide have been carefully researched and selected. They are presented and narrated through a selection of images and an interview, which allows readers to immerse themselves in the universe of these makers who exemplify excellence in their individual fields or are promising talents of the future. Find masters and rising stars who share the same passion and determination, and whose workshops are ready to share their secrets with visitors.

A selection of the best artisans

Are you eager to discover a city through craftsmanship? Do you wish to spend a few hours visiting an applied arts museum or attending a course on a craft with one of the masters featured in Homo Faber Guide? Browse the section dedicated to experiences and find your next adventure.

Experiences

An expert artisan is an accomplished artisan who has been in activity for more than ten years. He or she may also be engaged in passing on their knowledge to the next generations, but they have been doing so for less than seven years. Beyond this, they will become a Master artisan.

Who is an Expert artisan?

Homo Faber Guide provides you with a selection of the best addresses across Europe and further afield, where you will be able to discover and purchase exceptional objects, some of which are created by artisans featured in Homo Faber Guide.

Galleries

Homo Faber Guide is an online platform dedicated to craftsmanship that allows you to discover artisans and their masterpieces; explore museums, visit galleries and shops selling unique objects; enjoy experiences in cities across Europe and beyond.

Homo Faber Guide is a signature project developed by the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship, an international non-profit organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, which was set up in 2016 thanks to the intuition of Franco Cologni and Johann Rupert. The Michelangelo Foundation’s mission is to celebrate and preserve master craftsmanship, and for this reason it has created a map of the most significant representatives in this field, with the aim of connecting all its protagonists: artisans, designers, gallery owners, art curators, collectors and enthusiasts of high-quality handmade pieces.

About the Guide

Are you an artisan, atelier or manufacturer? Would you like to be featured in Homo Faber Guide? The Michelangelo Foundation encourages self-assessment initiatives and is pleased to evaluate new members to appear on the Guide or in other projects. Thanks to the Master’s Touch Evaluation Tool, every artisan can send their application: register and access a questionnaire to see if you fulfill the 11 criteria for excellence that stand behind all the activities of the Michelangelo Foundation. If your answers reach the minimum requirement, your application will be brought to our attention; if, on the contrary, you should score below the minimum requirement, we will give you some points for improvement, in the hope that you may participate in future initiatives of the Michelangelo Foundation.

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Our artisan labels

A master artisan is an accomplished artisan who has been in activity for more than ten years, and who has also been engaged in passing on his or her expertise to the younger generations for more than seven years. This is in keeping with one of the key values of the Michelangelo Foundation: the transmission of knowledge in craftsmanship.

Who is a Master artisan?

Find museums handpicked for their links to contemporary craftsmanship and the exquisite collections they have on display. In each city, discover a museum of interest and organise your visit. From Italian museums displaying coral collections, glass pieces and ceramics to decorative art museums in Russia and Greece, marvel at the variety of museums exhibiting masterpieces, showcasing techniques and recounting histories.

Museums

A rising star is an artisan who has been active for less than ten years, and who is capable of expressing his or her craft with competence, creativity and originality. Whether self-taught or trained, the rising star represents the future of craftsmanship, in creativity, concerns and approaches.

Who is a Rising star?

The artisans featured in Homo Faber Guide have been selected through a meticulous assessment process based on the 11 criteria for excellence, identified by Alberto Cavalli, Executive Director of the Michelangelo Foundation, in the volume The Master’s Touch, written with researchers Giuditta Comerci and Giovanna Marchello. The members of the Michelangelo Foundation’s network who have been invited to participate in sourcing artisans for the Guide use an evaluation tool based on these criteria. In this way, they can identify the most suitable artisans to include in the project.

Simple rules for a transparent selection

In which city does the artisan work?

In which country does the artisan practise?

What craft does the artisan practise?

What is the artisan’s Instagram page?

What is the name of the artisan you are recommending?

Does the artisan have a website?

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