Ceramicist Guðbjörg Káradóttir gives diners an extra layer to their culinary experience by creating carefully crafted tableware. Guðbjörg studied at the Icelandic Academy of Arts and also spent two years working at the Glit ceramics factory in Reykjavik. Using her artistic skills and knowledge of small-scale production she established her business, Ker, to supply restaurants with well made artisanal products for food service. Inspired by the world around her, Guðbjörg draws inspiration from the atmosphere of the restaurants she designs for, producing bespoke pieces which reflect their style and vibe. She also uses the natural landscape of Iceland to inform her colour palette, incorporating volcanic ash into her pieces.

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PROFILE

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With its name taken from smoke, “reykur”, and bay “vík”, Reykjavík combines the stunning volcanic landscape with the wild north Atlantic. This closeness to the elements, makes Icelanders acutely aware of the power of nature. As a community, they are committed to forging a more sustainable future, and the artisans are leading the way. Meet concerned cabinetmakers, low impact ceramicists, recycling jewellery makers and fishskin leatherworkers.

Reykjavík: craft inspired by nature

Fed with the strength of volcanoes and the frozen air coming off the sea, Reykjavík is a mystical city. Recognised as one of the cleanest cities in the world, nature is at its core, and so it has become a centre of beauty and sustainability.

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At DesignMarch 2014 in Reykjavík Guðbjörg Káradóttir and her design partner Ólöf Jakobína Ernudóttir (together, the design duo Postulína) presented Jökla (Glacial), handmade porcelain tableware inspired by the magical Icelandic glaciers. It mixes the harsh blackness of the glacial tongues with the softness of light colours such as the blue of the glacier interior.

Jökla

This porcelain plate features a unique and elegant design. It was hand thrown on a potter’s wheel and gilded by hand.

White & gold plate

All of Guðbjörg's products are hand thrown on a potter's wheel, combining traditional and innovative methods.

White & gold tea set

This unique porcelain plate was hand thrown on a potter’s wheel combining traditional and innovative methods.

Porcelain plate

Spherical vases made of porcelain with a unique texture. The vases are hand thrown and come in different sizes.

Porcelain vases

When Embla Sigurgeirsdóttir came to ceramics at a crossroads in her life, she took a chance along the road of earth and fire. Through working with clay, she has created the life she wants with her own hands. In her studio, a stone’s throw from Hafnarfjarðar Marina, she creates beautifully balanced pieces inspired by the Icelandic landscape. She uses the fragility of porcelain to her advantage; she carefully carves their surface creating patterns that come to life in changing light. The alluring whiteness of porcelain brings challenges, she explains to work with it successfully “you have to communicate with the clay, listen to it”.

Sigurgeirsdóttir, Embla

Searching for harmony

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Kristín S. Garðarsdóttir’s studio is contained within an impressive agricultural building which used to be home to Icelandic cows. This expansive space allows her the room to experiment. She creates both functional and sculptural pieces predominately using ceramics. However, her constant boundless energy is always seeking new experiences, as such, she doesn’t limit herself to one material. She has created work in glass, textiles and draws extensively. Her pieces are playful, expressive and colourful. The work has a consistent thread running through it, a vibration that connects all her pieces but is hard to tie down. She explains that each piece "holds hands" with the last, it is a language beyond words.

Gardasdóttir, Kristín

Holding hands

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Born on the volcanic Westman Islands, Guðný Hafsteinsdóttir is influenced by the primal elements of water and fire. The experience of living beside a volcano, on the edge of the sea that was alive with fishing boats and under skies full of birdlife, has left a permanent impression on Guðný. It affects how she approaches her ceramic practice to this day. She is also inspired by Iceland’s rich tradition of storytelling. Her work is characterised by a mix of playfulness, narrative and humour, while taking on themes of nature and the environment. She often combines other materials with clay, such as glass and wood, creating work with a contemporary Icelandic voice.

Hafsteinsdóttir, Gudný

Objects with stories to tell

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Ragnheiður Ingunn Ágústsdóttir creates work that is a conversation between art, craft and design. She studied product design in Milan at the Domus Academy but quickly found she has a personal connection with clay. She went on to study ceramics at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Strasbourg. Her forms investigate the emotions of everyday life: functional objects that express a type of ethnography. Her objects are primal, they appear to be grown not made. Colour and texture bring an element of play into the work; avoiding taking itself too seriously. She has exhibited widely in Iceland and abroad. She has work in the collections of the EFTA, Brussels and the Icelandic Embassy, Tokyo.

Ágústsdóttir, Ragnheiður Ingunn

Breathing life into clay

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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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