From the first time Christophe Nancey got his hands on the wood lathe, he knew he did not want to do anything else. The French woodturner discovered the tool at the age of 23 and has never ceased to experiment with it. In his sculptures, Christophe reveals the depth and finesse of wood. Turning, inlaying, carving; his technical mastery serves his expression and results in sculptures: “I am the craftsman of my own art”. A self-taught artist, he has developed his own methods to subtly underline the character of wood. Christophe’s pieces appear as living objects arising from his imaginary nature. Guided by inspiration from the chimera, the phenomena of life, the wood sculptor makes palpable moments where life emerges.

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This wooden sculpture, crafted from heather root, pigments and pewter, is part of Christophe Nancey's Chimera series. These sculptures come to life, blooming, growing and giving birth. The contrast between the rough, eroded and polished aspects, encrusted with metal, suggests a life emerging from a shell or a matrix.

Danaïtes enrubannées - Bruyère

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This ash wood sculpture with gold powder detailing is part of Christophe Nancey's Empreintes Torse series. The series explores silhouettes symbolised as vertical outlines reduced to a rectangular outline. The form twists on its axis, traversed by an impact, giving rise to a radiant texture.

Empreinte Torse 10

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This ash wood sculpture, part of Christophe Nancey's Empreintes Torse series, symbolises a vertical silhouette reduced to a rectangular outline. The form twists on its axis, traversed by an impact, giving rise to a radiant texture.

Empreinte Torse 7

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Selva is part of a series of sculptural forms handcrafted from a single piece of burl oak, wood turned and hollowed out on several axes. The pieces are carved, inlaid with pewter and patinated. Through the pieces, Christophe Nancey celebrates vitality and vulnerability, the duality of pristine natural spaces. A symbol of life, the form is inspired by the shape of a heart.

Selva vue de trois quart face à droite

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Empreintes Vague, a sculptural form handcrafted from ash wood, symbolises a vertical silhouette reduced to a rectangular outline. The form twists in its ascent and unlocks a resonance around an oblong opening as if to give life.

Empreinte Vague 2

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British artisan Julian Schwarz studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, specialising in sculpture. After a number of years working in his studio in London, he chose to move to his wife’s native country, France. Interested in traditional tools and techniques, he makes his sculptures entirely by hand, without machines, “not really to be curious and old fashioned, I just prefer simple, sharp, professional carpentry tools,” he says. Using traditional hand tools certainly takes longer, but he sees that as “a benefit, not a hardship – and it’s interesting”. Another characteristic of his work is that he never uses sandpaper – if you look closely at his work, chisel marks are apparent.

Schwarz, Julian

An English sculptor in France

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A smooth, weather-worn seaside stone; layers of blue in a tranquil lagoon: Julien Lagueste’s nature-inspired creations combine wood and resin to bring the deep blue hues and serenity of the sea into a living space. Julien designs and produces his tables almost completely by hand. “I imagine each one as a blend of function and sculpture. Each piece is completely unique, like a painting,” he says. His special process of superimposing five layers of resin to create a tabletop means that no two tables will ever be the same. “Each layer dries separately and is influenced by temperature and other external conditions. This means there is an element of chance in the process, that works alongside the mastery of the craftsmanship.”

Lagueste, Julien

The sea in his hands

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For Jayne Armstrong, 2010 was the year that changed her life for ever. After spending many years working as an academic at Falmouth University, England, which is celebrated for excellence in art, craft and design, and “thinking, talking and writing about art and craft”, Jayne decided that she wanted “to make, to create, to work with (her) hands”. Having trained with glass artists, ceramicists and wood turners, Jayne has spent a great deal of time discussing ideas and analysing objects with art and craft theorists and historians. Her work has evolved through all of these connections and she has a process of experimentation with references traditions within each medium. Using primarily fresh, locally sourced wood to explore its sculptural and aesthetic possibility, she makes contemporary, functional and sculptural objects.

Armstrong, Jayne

Each piece matters

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Feeling a desire to create, Eloïse Baro began to learn the ancient art of mosaic making by herself. She then gained valuable knowledge  at the prestigious Spilimbergo Mosaic School in Italy. Studying Roman, Byzantine and architectural mosaic techniques, she acquired expertise that allowed her to develop her own practice with a contemporary vision. Alongside her restoration work on heritage sites, Eloïse experiments by upcycling, using all kinds of discarded materials in her mosaics. One of her notable projects was the interior and exterior covering of a 1941 Ford in New York.

Baro, Eloïse

The modern mosaic maker

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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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