Isabelle Emmerique knew from an early age that she wanted to be a painter, so while she was finishing her high school studies she passed the entrance exams for art schools and was admitted to ENSAAMA in Paris. After a foundation year exploring various different art forms, her focus turned very quickly towards mural art. However, one day, by chance, she discovered the school’s lacquer workshop and immediately fell in love with it. “I loved everything. I liked the smell, the precision, the calm and the silence of the workshop... I even liked what they wore. And that was it. It's been 41 years now.”

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This lacquered wooden panel representing the Lions' Gate, one of the gates of Jerusalem, depicts a bird's-eye view of the city, showing its various strata. It reflects upon the archaeology, human memory and a part of world history. Isabelle used a dark lacquer to highlight the bright gold and silver markings delimiting the various landmarks. The lock in the centre symbolises the gate of the title.

Les portes de Jérusalem: la Porte des Lions

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The surface of this lacquered diptych undulates slightly and varies in thickness, creating a three-dimensional effect. The panels are decorated with spherical forms, while the highly polished texture is invitingly tactile.

First Wound

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This is one of a series of wooden panels, set with coloured pebbles of lacquer over polyurethane foam. The piece is a play of oppositions: lightness and weight, rough and smooth, matt and glossy, decorated and plain.

Passage I

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The Institut pour les Savoir-Faire Français (the French Savoir-Faire Institute) is a public-interest association working under the umbrella of the French Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education. It provides support to businesses in the artistic crafts sector as well as those certified as Living Heritage Companies. The Institute helps promote French savoir-faire throughout France and the world. The Institute's actions include the coordination of European Artistic Craft Days (6,000 events in France each year); efforts to promote joint undertakings by professionals, institutions, businesses, decision-makers and influencers; the production of sector-related data and reference documents; the Maîtres d’art-Élèves programme; awareness-raising amongst young people and support for training initiatives; and management of the French government’s 'Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant' (EPV) – Living Heritage Company label. The French Savoir-Faire Institute designs and champions actions geared towards promoting an artistic crafts sector that is accessible and inspiring – an ambassador of world-class French excellence in craftsmanship.

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At the age of 33 Valérie Colas des Francs decided she wanted to leave her career in marketing in order to work with her hands, but she was afraid she wouldn’t have enough patience for a manual profession. That proved to be the case when she took a course in stained glass. Then, determined to put her patience to the ultimate test, she decided to pursue an internship in straw marquetry, “because it’s meticulous, detailed work. I told myself if I am patient enough to work with this, I can change jobs”. When she first arrived to train at the workshop of French master Lison de Caunes, she “fell in love with straw” and knew instantly this was what she wanted to do. She stayed with de Caunes for 14 years before opening her own studio.

Colas des Francs, Valérie

Testing her own patience

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Alain Mailland first studied fine arts but his heart wasn’t really in it. After two years he gave up and went to earn a living on building sites as a roof carpenter. He worked in construction for the next 15 years and it was during the later part of these years when he discovered woodturning. The first time he turned a piece of wood he knew instantly that this was what he wanted to do. After an internship, he started by turning and selling bowls and vases. However, one day he had the idea to create flowers out of wood, and from there, little by little, he developed a unique technique of carving and sculpting wood into delicate yet spectacular forms inspired by nature.

Mailland, Alain

Sculpting natural forms in wood

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After obtaining a diploma in cabinetmaking from Ecole Boulle in Paris in 2001, Nicolas Pinon continued to work on traditional and contemporary finishing techniques. During his studies he attended a conference on Japanese lacquering and knew immediately that this was what he wanted to do. He took a few courses in Paris and in Barcelona, Spain. However, he knew that if he wanted to immerse himself fully in this technique he would need to go to Japan. So in 2007 he packed his bags and travelled to Japan where he would meet his future master, Nagatoshi Onishi, with whom he later trained for three months.

Pinon, Nicolas

A Japanese craft in French hands

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Growing up above his father’s wood workshop had a profound impact on Emmanuel Joussot, who was immersed in this world from an early age. His father employed apprentices from the Compagnons du Devoir and, as a child, Emmanuel learnt cabinetry and joinery alongside them. He worked under his father’s guidance for 14 years before taking over the management of the workshop on his retirement in 1989. The workshop originally focused on the production of 17th to 19th century French furniture designs, however now Emmanuel mainly makes contemporary furniture as well as panelling, antique furniture and gilded wood. He works closely with designers and interior decorators to create interior layouts and single pieces or limited series.

Joussot, Emmanuel

Keeping it in the family

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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.

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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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