Penna Tornberg’s background in materials and techniques is versatile, but lies mainly in jewellery. He graduated from a vocational school as a jewellery artisan and continued his studies at Lahti University of Applied Science, Institute of Design. Gradually, he became interested in working on a bigger scale, and an encounter with glass answered his call. He had worked briefly with glass in the past, but a glassblowing course opened up a new path. The challenges of the material, its unpredictability and uncertainty are a source of continuous fascination, as is his need to understand the roots of glassmaking. “Tools, methods and materials are old, so the struggle is to do something innovative and fresh,” Penna says. “To achieve that you have to handle the tradition.”

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Sini Majuri works as a glass artist and designer specialising in ancient glass blowing techniques. She has received multiple design awards such as a golden A’Design Award in Italy and has held over 60 exhibitions internationally. Working through an expressive medium many of Sini’s works have a true poetry about them. Sini creates interior design objects, modern custom made light sculptures, mountainous glass landscapes and contemporary narratives in glass. For Sini glass represents endless possibilities to express moods and feelings that might be difficult to represent with words; glass can be weightless and strong at the same time. Her work often combines 3D design with an expression influenced by comic strips.

Majuri, Sini

Nordic cool

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Teemu Salonen considers himself a hermit, taking refuge in a small and serene village, a place where he can fully immerse himself in his work. After graduating as a carpenter, he continued his studies and became both an artisan and a designer. What drove him was a desire to master as many materials and techniques as possible. In turn, this has enabled him to think outside the box. Teemu learns the methods and then follows an unconventional path. He questions everything. In doing so, he ponders how he can create differently by reinterpreting the material and producing new and surprising forms. He calls his works “design jokes and straight-laced examples of craftsmanship”, they encapsulate the juxtaposition between tradition and innovation.

Salonen, Teemu

A road less travelled

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Helmi Remes is inspired by the wonders of nature, those tiny details and phenomena not visible to the human eye. Her work reflects microbiological events and evokes memories of encounters with something mysterious. Even for a professional like her with a decade long career as a designer and an artist, glass represents something of a mystery. Its beauty offers never-ending fascination and curiosity. The process is always a challenge and teaches her humility. Helmi combines different methods like fusing, kiln casting and various glassblowing techniques. Material is the beginning of everything and her aim is to highlight and harness its best qualities and create surprising visual effects.

Remes, Helmi

Patterns inspired by nature

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“Tradition is the base from which I work. Innovation, for me, means finding new ways of applying these techniques and being open to straying from what has been considered the only right way.” That is how Paula Pääkkönen describes her work. No wonder she has decided to study and then settle down at the Nuutajärvi Glass Village, a community of like-minded people. Her infatuation with glass started in 2010 during her degree studies. What mesmerised her was the heat, intensity and quick pace of the glassblowing process. But, in her work today, technically immaculate pieces are not quite what she is aiming for. Instead, she is aiming to find the balance between technical excellence and capturing a fleeting moment, a feeling about something that is hard to define: magic.

Pääkkönen, Paula

Making magic in glass

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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

Account and data history

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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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