The longstanding tradition of goldsmithing and silversmithing in the city of Nuremberg and the excellent training at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg had a deep impact on Berthold Hoffmann. His teachers opened his eyes to the profession’s creative potential and the year before he graduated in 1986 he decided to open his own workshop. Today, Berthold is renowned for designing and making award-winning cast iron cooking pots and pans, fondue sets and tabletop grills. He has exhibited in Europe and the US and has won all the important design prices in Germany – the latest was the German Design Awards 2016, where his fondue set Konus won the category recognising excellence in product design for the kitchen.

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This set was manufactured using the iron casting method. It is composed of a mortar and matching pestle.

Mortar and pestle

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This fondue set was handcrafted using the iron casting method. It includes eight handmade stainless steel forks and a gas heater. Perfect for cosy nights with friends and family spent around the dining table.

Konus fondue set

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This square pot was fully handcrafted. Its overall production, from preliminary sketch to finishing, took more than 50 hours. It was manufactured with the iron casting method and weighs 11kg.

Square pot

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This square bowl was manufactured using the iron casting method. Berthold was involved in every stage of production, from preliminary sketches to the making of the copper mock-up sample to the finishing.

Black square bowl

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This handcrafted pan was designed especially for frying fish. Its overall production, from preliminary sketch to finishing, took more than 50 hours. It was manufactured with the iron casting method and weighs 15kg.

Big fish pan

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Meisterstrasse Handmade is a directory of craftsmanship aiming to introduce the general public to the products and passions of the finest artisans. The organisation was established in Austria the 1990s by Nicola and Christoph Rath, both passionate about fine craftsmanship, who wanted to highlight the work of artisans across the country practising their metier to the highest standard. It has since expanded to cover Germany, the Netherlands and Japan, presenting hundreds of master artisans and their companies as members. It intends to continue its expansion across Europe and beyond. The organisation seeks out unique products, makers and masters to recommend on its website and in its publications and lobbies for a modern culture of craftsmanship in order to close the gap between artisans and discerning customers. Its Meisterstrasse Selection label is a stamp of excellence given to those who have achieved international prominence by producing items of superior quality with great attention to detail.

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Peter Bauhuis takes a thieving delight in breaking with craft traditions in his work, questioning our visual habits with subtle humour. With a family background of several generations of watch makers, the environment of a workshop has always been both familiar and important to the Munich-based jewellery maker and metal sculptor. “Following an apprenticeship as a jeweller at the Hanau Zeichenakademie was a very good training to optimise my technical skills. But it took the further step of studying at the Munich Art Academy to get where I wanted to go,” he explains. Today his work includes jewellery, equipment, objects, installations, films and several books. By linking and interconnecting  different approaches, he arrives at a multi-layered body of work that expresses his artistic curiosity.

Bauhuis, Peter

An investigative approach

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It was in the very moment when the young Jens Nettlich witnessed how a sword was forged for the first time, that all his interests came together in one place. “I was passionate about the early days of mankind, antiquity, stories of gods and heroes. Enthusiastically I read Prince Ironheart and what I saw now, directly corresponded to the images in my mind”. The decision was made “I wanted to be able to do something like that as well, it was almost magical”. Consequently, in 2000 he completed his education in metal design and opened up his own workshop just a year later. Jens Nettlich’s creations manifest in various different materials and shapes, ranging from knives to sculptures, but they all are united by excellent craftsmanship.

Nettlich, Jens

Dancing with the elements

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Two little boys are standing at the window of a kitchen shop smiling with amazement as their eyes follow the shape of a damask steel knife in the display. One of the boys was Anselm Littschwager and this moment was the beginning of his fascination with the art of forging knives. “I was mesmerised, and the only thing I could think of was: when I grow up, I am going to do this.” After years of training as a silversmith in Neugablonz and Vienna, the dream of starting his own forge was already in reach. “But I was lacking experience in craft as well as in life in general.” So he spent the next three years travelling from Germany to Scandinavia gathering experience and impressions along the way, all of which are reflected in his works today.

Littschwager, Anselm

Mesmerised by the art of knife making

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For more than 30 years, Hasan Göktepe worked in a workshop that is over 100 years old, until he decided to take it over in 2007. His son Aslan, to whom he passed on the skills and knowledge he acquired through working with master craftsmen, now works with him and runs the business. Casting metals is a physically demanding craft which requires a great deal of trust. The larger the objects, the heavier the parts that the father and son duo have to move together. The two men hold up to 200 kilograms in their hands while manually pouring hot, liquid metal into the moulds. “You cannot let routine creep in but must concentrate on the casting, again and again,” Aslan says. “A blind understanding is necessary. As father and son working together, we have a good basis.”

Göktepe, Hasan & Aslan

Casting with the times

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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.

Our Partners

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.

Enrich your experience beyond Homo Faber 2024: The Journey of Life

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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.

Join the Homo Faber Guide!

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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