Henar Iglesias’ mother is a milliner and introduced her daughter to the world of craftsmanship from a very young age. When Henar was eight, they went to the closing down sale of the last local featherworking studio. Her mother was distraught at the thought there would be no more featherworkers in Madrid. Though she joined her mother’s workshop at 14, Henar later headed to university to study mathematics. Yet, she continued her millinery alongside her studies, specialising in featherwork. She further developed her work by working for a French interior designer for 12 years, integrating featherwork into furniture designs. Finally, she opened her own studio, dedicated to interior decoration and design with feathers.

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Featherworker Henar Iglesias invites you to her workshop, opened in 2010. Henar offers a guided visit: she will show visitors around her studio, speak about different pieces and the challenges that each of them presented. She will talk about the history of her work evolution and inspiration by ancient techniques. She will also demonstrate some techniques live.

Discover a featherworker's studio in Madrid

Learn about pre-Colombian techniques

CENTER

PROFILE

PRES

This piece is part of Henar's Bestiary collection, in which she pays tribute to the animals that the human race is slowly losing. Here, she has taken a real cow's skull and used turkey, chicken and peacock feathers to recreate its facial features, and magpie wings to form its ears. The feathers are all completely natural and have not been dyed or primed.

Bestiario V

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Light and shade enter and play with this feather wall hanging relief mosaic. Henar carefully selected the feathers she works with so she could combine grey mallard and blue hued peacock feathers to create an elegant interplay of colours.

Genesis

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Henar Iglesias has combined feathers from Asian partridges and golden pheasants mounted on a felt background to create a geometric and abstract wall hanging. The feather mosaic draws on millennial techniques sourced from the remaining works of the pre-Colombian Amantecas.

Consumation (wall hanging)

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Álvaro Martinez Leiro started basket weaving with a simple spiral basketry course. He became hooked, and began to research the technique to the point of questioning the entire creation process which he found too slow. Over the years, he has managed to create his own technique, optimising all the steps and materials and making it much more effective. Álvaro wishes to ensure traditional crafts thrive, to keep alive skills that are a part of our human identities, especially those that are at risk of disappearing. “We don’t know where we are going, but we know where we come from," he says. Álvaro has come a long way from creating at home for pleasure to collaborating with Loewe and seeing his products on a giant screen in Milan.

Martinez Leiro, Álvaro

From staw to leather

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Idoia Cuesta's 360 degree approach to basketweaving is informed by both her studies in biology and her training in weaving textiles. By combining her deep knowledge of natural fibres with research into the basketry traditions of Galicia, Idoia has created an unconventional style of basketmaking which combines organic materials and natural fibres. Her vision, passion and research have led her to experiment and branch out into interior design and landscapes. She also works in fashion, collaborating with designers to make accessories and prototypes, as well as writing books and participating in international events, among them Milan Design Week in 2019.

Cuesta Alonso, Idoia

Immersed in nature

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A bowl was the first object that Silvia and María brought to life using esparto grass, a material that belongs to their Mediterranean culture and landscape. Esparto grass may at first seem difficult to work with, but the pair discovered that it was possible to use it to create everyday objects, and that the possibilities were infinite. Specialised in braiding and sewing the material, all their pieces stand out for their delicacy. Inspiration is everywhere for Silvia and María: of course in the landscape, but also in ancient pieces they discover in museums. “We feel that we are extending the life of a traditional technique by adapting it to our contemporary way of creation,” they explain.

Caballero, Silvia & Vidagañ, María

Art emerging from nature

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They say you never forget your first: that’s certainly true for Daniel Santamaría, well-known floral artisan from Spain and creative director at the Escola Disseny Floral I Paisatgisme de Barcelona, the floral art and landscaping school of the city. He started working with flowers aged 14 as an errand boy in a florist’s shop where he helped selling Christmas trees. But he still remembers the turning points of his career: "My first course as a teacher, my first competition, my first demonstration, my first international trip, my first book, my first shop, especially my silver medal in the 2003 European Cup. And of course my first arrangement: it was a bouquet of 35 red tulips and it looked really... bad!"

Santamaria, Daniel

Creating contrasts

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Your authorizations

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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