Jewellery design was a true vocation for Juliette Polac. As a child, she remembers buying pearls in a fabulous Parisian shop to make necklaces and embroider fake collars for her family. Born in Paris, Juliette has been living in Greece for thirty years. Her interest in the diversity of cultural heritage is at the core of her work. Inspired by authentic ethnic objects she collects from around the world, as well as by architecture and sculpture, Juliette subtly fuses materials in her own elegant way. Smooth or hammered silver, gold, bronze, are finely worked and sometimes paired with carved stones, such as rock crystal or quartz. Each of her pieces narrates a unique story where past meets present.

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Athens-based designer Juliette Polac welcomes you to her workshop for a first insight into jewellery making. After a presentation of her work, during which she will talk about the different materials she uses and her approach to craftsmanship, Juliette will demonstrate the equipment by taking you through the different stages of the making process. You will discover how silver is soldered, filed and polished. Furthermore, the jewellery designer will be showing you the delicate technique of stone cutting. This experience offers the opportunity to see the work behind a piece of jewellery, while also discovering Juliette's creative world.

Visit a jewellery workshop in Greece

Behind the scenes in a jewellery workshop

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Citrine crystal, gold and silver are the components of this ring. The jewel was modelled in wax and cast in silver. A 22k gold plate was soldered on the top along with four small set citrine. The shape of the ring is inspired by the Japanese stone headrests, as well as the Ethiopian ones in wood.

Sun offering

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This ring was modelled in wax then cast in silver, the ring is decorated with two 22k gold dots that have been soldered, as well as a labradorite stone that was meticulously carved. This jewel was created for an exhibition at the Naila de Monbrison Gallery, dedicated to the theme of rings.

An eye on the sky

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The brooch reflects intense shades of blue and green. It is made of a silver plate on which a labradorite plate is held together by a gold and silver set, as well as a gold wire that runs delicately through it. It was a crack in the stone that showed the way for the artist to pass the gold thread.

Between sea and sky

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Suspension of Seeds is a gold chain necklace adorned with seeds from Guyane. The jewel can be worn in different ways.

Suspension of Seeds

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Founded in 2012 with the support of Van Cleef & Arpels, L’ÉCOLE, School of Jewelry Arts aims to share jewellery culture with a diverse audience. L’ÉCOLE offers courses in three principal fields: the history of jewellery, the world of precious stones and the savoir-faire of jewellery-making techniques. Taught by art historians, gemologists, jewellers and master artisans, the workshops and classes last two to four hours, they are all hands-on experiences, and based on an experimental approach. L’ÉCOLE also offers a programme of talks, publishes books and catalogues, and regularly organises exhibitions, both in Paris and Hong Kong, where its two permanent sites are located, and in the rest of the world with travelling events.

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Having studied Sculpture Design and Painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts, next to a seminar in Gemmology, Dimitris Nikolaidis was taught silversmithing by painter and jewellery maker Giota Kaliakmani and silver-goldsmith Christophoros Prineas. Since 1986, he’s been creating microsculpture jewellery, specialising in making wax moulds for moulded jewellery, and 3D-shaping jewellery out of metal sheets. His first pieces, including a bracelet inspired by fern leaves, were made of thinly sliced sheets of alpaca, copper and bronze. Dimitris’ nature-centric approach reflects that of ancient civilisations. By studying and experimenting with metals, minerals, wood and clay for his miniature creations, he discovers the size of his own presence in the world.

Nikolaidis, Dimitris

Finding beauty in small things

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Despina Pantazopoulou studied jewellery design and making at the Central School of Art & Design in London in 1976. Her jewellery creations are unique and go beyond traditional forms. Recently, Despina decided to study sculpture, which belongs to the fine arts world, in order to discover what it shares with jewellery making, an applied art. “With the anvil, hammer and fire I have found a creative language where the infinite pounding gives me solutions for my ideas,” she says. Despina believes that “an artist today wants people to know that the price they pay for their work reflects its artistic value and spirituality; it’s not just about the value of the materials”.

Pantazopoulou, Despina

Going beyond tradition

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Katerina Makriyianni grew up in a family where art was part of the daily routine. After studying theatre at the University of Patras and taking engraving and drawing classes in Florence, at Le Arti Orafe Jewellery school, Makriyianni returned to Chania, her hometown. Their family workshop was the place where she started practicing her craft, with the guidance of her parents. Through her work, she combines her love for theatre and the creative freedom it provides with her passion for crafting jewellery. “I love working in a workshop and especially with teams. Teamwork and creativity are a source of strength for me. That is why pursuing this career was the perfect combination,” Makriyianni says.

Makriyianni, Katerina

A theatrical approach

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Contrary to many other jewellery makers who renew or copy prototypes of the past, Akis Goumas believes that tradition is something vivid, the sum of elements that are not obvious, but define our identity and follow us through all time periods. His main concept is to use parts of silver or other metal objects which are not used anymore and are lying redundant inside a drawer. He hammers and shapes these discarded parts into new contemporary objects, in this way retaining the memory of older generations of craftsmen.

Goumas, Akis

When the past lives in the present

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Your authorizations

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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