Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen worked as a fashion and jewellery designer for many years both for her own company and as a freelancer. However, she increasingly felt that she needed to do something else, to carve a niche for herself. “I wanted to experiment and find my original source of creativity, my purest form of creative joy.” Although she had worked with luxury materials including gold and fur, she realised she felt most gratification from working with humble materials such as paper, which allowed her to express her creativity freely without having to compromise financially.

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Copenhagen celebrates the legacy of fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen, be it with his statue in the city centre or the Little Mermaid off the city coast. Our itinerary will take you on a journey to encounter goldsmiths, paper sculptors, and porcelain makers, whose jewellery and sculptures mimic the world created by Andersen and immerse you in his tales.

Copenhagen: from the pages of a fairy tale

The fairy tales of writer Hans Christian Andersen paint an enchanting picture of his hometown Copenhagen. Follow our itinerary to discover craftspeople, whose magical creations seem to have come to life from the pages of Andersen’s stories.

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This floral sculpture crafted from thousands of shaped pieces of paper was created for the Arken Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, to celebrate the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha. It was placed at the entrance of the museum to welcome visitors to the exhibition in which 125 works by the Art Nouveau artist were presented.

Homage to Alphonse Mucha

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This paper table setting was created as a tribute to the flowering universe of Royal Copenhagen porcelain and celebrates the spirit of Christmas. At the centre, a red rose symbolises love and salvation. The title refers to Holy Communion, the meal of the Christian Church, while the flowers are an interpretation of the spiritual nourishment that we enjoy at Christmas time.

In the Name of Love – an Agape Feast

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Marianne cut, folded, twisted, braided, draped and shaped more than a thousand pieces of paper to form a flaming rose-like blossom, a symbol of resurrection and beginning of life. The transformation links the paper to its source, the tree. Created for the Homo Faber exhibition held in Venice in 2018, this monumental flower was originally known as “Rising Medusa Rose”.

Resurrection Rose

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Danish Crafts & Design Association (DKoD) promotes professional artisans and designers through exhibitions, fairs, events and digital platforms. The association collaborates with museums, higher design and crafts educations as well as other institutions and organizations in Denmark and abroad. 

DKoD is a private association with about 500 professional designers and craft artisans in Denmark. It hosts the Biennale for Crafts & Design including exhibition, competition and seminar, two annual crafts fairs, as well as exhibitions and artist talks at its gallery space, Officinet, in Copenhagen. The organization supports members' interests in matters of trade and professional development and coordinates their participation in exhibitions and competitions.

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Malene Lerager continues the heritage of Danish hand bookbinding in the Co’libri bindery workshop, which is located in an ancient building close to Copenhagen Cathedral. “In the 1970s, Danish bookbinders were very well known around the world. Ole Olsen, from whom I learned all the secrets of the craft and took over the business, held many exhibitions in Switzerland, New York and around the world. But the craft has almost disappeared. Many people don’t even know that it exists anymore.” Malene works on her own, and executes every step of the process using old tools and machinery that belonged to her master. “I strive to live up to my talented predecessors and still love the process of learning.” She is also one of the very few bookbinders to create limited editions of new published books.

Lerager, Malene Denm

Bound to tradition

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Jette Frölich is a self-taught decorative metal artist, and since 1966 her delicate designs have shaped how Christmas looks. Jette is predominantly known for her branch decorations, but she also make decorative porcelain plates and cups as well as elaborate table decorations. Her intricate yet candid designs are inspired by the German masters of architecture and Arabic minaret ornamentation, yet the clean lines of Jette's work have had global appeal over the years. She still finds the creative process and release as invigorating as ever. Many of her designs are considered classics, but Jette keeps producing new pieces that fit in with her legacy, while also being fit for contemporary homes.

Frolich, Jette

Defining the spirit of Christmas

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PROFILE

Danish-Norwegian craftswoman Bit Vejle crafts unique creations by cutting patterns and designs in paper using only a pair of small scissors. Psaligraphy, as this art is called, is traditionally practiced in Denmark especially at Easter, when children commonly make greeting cards using just a sheet of paper that is folded to cut out a design. This was also Bit’s favourite ritual when she was growing up in her native town of Brovst. Over the years, it became a profession: her first exhibition was held at The National Museum of Decorative Arts in Trondheim, Norway, in 2008, and her art soon spread throughout Scandinavia and all the way to the USA and China. She enjoys listening to music while cutting, and to introduce a great degree of humour in her world of imagery.

Vejle, Bit

Paper stories

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Signe Elisabeth Scharling, a former psychologist from Copenhagen, discovered her passion for paper flower art by chance. A simple encounter with a paper peony on Pinterest sparked her curiosity. What began as a hobby evolved into a full-time pursuit in 2023. With no formal training, Signe taught herself through books and experimentation, developing a unique style using crepe paper, steel wire and hand-applied colours. Her creations often feature intentionally imperfect details to capture the fleeting beauty of real flowers. Now an established artist with a large Instagram following, she shares her craft through a variety of online tutorials and workshops, continually finding joy in the creative process. “It makes me happy to make things that are beautiful,” she says.

Scharling, Signe Elisabeth

The subtle details behind paper flowers

Singe Elisabeth Scharling

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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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