Artesanias Juanita is named after a pioneering woman in weaving. Juanita grew her weaving workshop from 30 weavers to 220 craftswomen. She was awarded the Mujer de Éxito (Successful Woman) title, which she dedicated to all of Sandoná’s successful craftswomen who were by her side during the development and innovation of Sandoná’s weaving. Her legacy is the quest to do things well, aiming for perfection, but also to enjoy the creative process and embrace crazy ideas.

Juanita’s trademark is very strong: that's why fashion designers have always respected her and saw her as their peer. Brands such as Loewe commissioned her a collection of handbags, which include the Cartera Juanita: a precious handbag made with Iraca palm. Juanita planted so many seeds in her lifetime that, although the task of preserving this craft is considerably difficult, her memory will surely be honoured with the continuation of her good work.

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The metallic rattle of letters pouring down the linotype machine into lead cast texts reverberates through a spacious workshop where a sole linotypist brings manuscripts to graphic life. Here lies a remnant of a former revolutionary printing era, still operative, but threatened by modern technology. It was thanks to the donation of parts of a linotype machine that Imprenta Patriótica was born, under the guardianship of the Caro y Cuervo Institute of Colombia. From text typing to bookbinding, all the processes involved in the making of a book remain mechanical and manual at La Imprenta Patriótica. A forensic job has been done to classify and restore donated materials, such as carved woodblock types.

Today, La Imprenta Patriótica offers services to the Ministry of Culture, literature and graphic design lovers and students who value this space as a workshop to re-define the materiality of books in the dawn of yet another industrial revolution. They are creating new fonts in a craftsmanship collaboration project including master woodworkers and graphic designers.

La Imprenta Patriotica

Safeguards of slow printing

CENTER

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PROFILE

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A life-changing decision to study textile design at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London marked Juliana Hurtado’s path as an artisan. With this experience, she was able to connect design and finesse acquired in London to the traditional craft with which she had grown up in Colombia. In 2002, she returned to her native Colombia and developed a keen sense for home aesthetics as an interior designer. By 2013 Juliana had opened her own atelier in Bogotá to translate this skill into emotionally meaningful handmade textiles.

Mrs. Lovegood carries in its name the act of nurturing and holding a safe space for others. It redefines home space rituals through natural fibres and diverse craft techniques. Though the atelier specialises in horizontal loom woven products, its uniqueness lies in the variety of techniques mastered by its artisans. They embroider, cross stitch, knit, crochet, sew, illustrate, hand block and screen print, giving Mrs. Lovegood’s products quality, versatility, and grace.

Mrs. Lovegood

Innovative textiles crafted with traditional techniques

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Teresa Jacanamejoy and Eisenhower Ramos are the founding mother-son duo of Curarte. Teresa is a leader of the Kamentsá community in Colombia. The Kamentsá community is intent on sharing and preserving their language. In this context, weaving acquires a specific meaning as to use one’s hands is to weave from the heart, because everything Kamentsá people are, and all they can ever hope to give or receive, has its place in there. Weaving is a tool for learning and teaching. It is a way to remember stories and pass them on, it is something around which people gather. Weaving exalts memories and projects future.

Teresa, Eisenhower and their family established Curarte in 2016. Eisenhower knows that the overwhelming nature of globalisation threatens the survival of his people’s customs, but he wants indigenous communities to become stronger by mixing their ancestral heritage and the incredible speed of western practices. He knows that therein lies the power that the newer generations need to harness.

Curarte

Weaving to connect people and ideas

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Solángel Briñez and Ulises Quintero, wife and husband, work together weaving palma real, a craft they have inherited from Doña Aurora Flórez, Ulises' mother. Solángel remembers that very early on in their relationship, she saw Ulises weaving with great ease, and asked him to teach her. From his and her mother-in-law’s hands, she learned the secrets of the craft, the dyeing of palm fibre, and the more than 27 types of weaving that are practised in these lands.

Doña Aurora taught Solángel and Ulises a specific palm dyeing technique, which was a starting point for them to then try a variety of pigments. Their products today have a high quality colour. Solángel’s curiosity and sense of initiative led her to create Asopalguamo, an association made up of more than 25 families, most of them led by mothers who are at the head of households.

Asopalguamo

Weaving palm as a 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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