Roland Baptiste followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a master engraver before him. At 17, he enrolled in the engraving curriculum of the well-known arms manufacturing school Léon Mignon in Liège, a city with a rich past in arms production. “I came to studies later than usual, so I had to double down to catch up. But I felt that I was able to develop my creativity and this gave me wings.” Once a master artisan, Roland worked for arms producers from different parts of the world. Since he was a boy, Roland had been passionate about mechanical watches and he successfully shifted his craftsmanship towards these. “There is a parallel between watchmaking and engraving: both are about working in an extremely detailed way to achieve the best results.”

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This watch has an engraving, with ornamentation inspired by Art Nouveau architecture and an image of two European stag beetles (Lucanus cervus) as symbols of strength. Made with the intaglio technique on a dial with a gold patina, the watch hands are rose gold and the straps are made of black alligator leather.

Vicomte

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This is a watch with an engraving characterised by lines in an assertive style and with an image of a head emerging from ornamentation consisting of acanthus leaves. Engraved in hollow bottom and with gold inlays, the watch hands are rose gold and the straps are made of calfskin.

Marquis I

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This watch has an engraving characterised by a roundness and elegant lines. It is engraved on a hollow bottom and with inlays of 24 carat gold (the yellow parts). The watch hands are rose gold and the straps are made of brown toad skin.

Voltaire II

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This watch has an engraving characterised by a roundness and elegant lines. It shows a chimera – a mythical creature with parts from various animals – surrounded by acanthus leaves. It was developed with the chiselling technique and with gold inlays for the eye and tail. The watch hands are in rose gold.

Voltaire I

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This is a watch with an engraving characterised by lines in an assertive style. Engraved in hollow bottom and with gold inlays, 12 brown cognac diamonds indicate the hours and the watch hands are in rose gold.

Marquis II

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Everything started for Song Yi Han during a bookbinding workshop in her native city, the South Korean capital, Seoul. “The touch of paper gave me a great feeling. I realised that this was what I wanted to do in life.” The experience led her to Brussels, where she followed bookbinding studies. She then won a competition for art school graduates in Belgium, which helped her to set up a workshop with bookbinding machines: “Cast iron machines more than a century old, that I purchased from a bookbinder who was stopping his own activities.” Song Yi also looked for additional methods, which she found in her native country. She started to use traditional South Korean lacquering techniques. “This way, I created a bridge between my native and adopted culture.”

Han, Song Yi

Bridge between two cultures

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Louise Bescond is orthodox in technique but daring in decoration. For her, binding a book is not just an aesthetic feat, it means valuing its content – protecting it over time and passing on its contents. It is a real art dedicated to memory. The Latin concept "scripta manent" is more valid than ever. The technique takes up the ancient tradition of French binding. But creativity is her signature. And she asks that those who turn to her trust her art, leaving her free to improvise. It is here that Louise’s hand finds real inspiration. A hand that weaves a tailored dress to the book, in harmony with the content. A diary will have a different look to a novel from the 19th century. And that’s why it is such a special art, which takes a lot of time. And why it still fascinates her – and her customers.

Bescond, Louise

Binding books as Haute Couture

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Paper artist Sabrina Transiskus won't stop working on something until she feels she's made it as good as it can be. Her tools are very simple: a segment blade cutter, some glue and her own hands. She cuts everything herself in what is perhaps a rather old-fashioned way of working, but it's very important to her, since she considers it part of the creative process. For example, she may be taken in a different direction than planned if a piece of paper that was supposed to go in the bin ends up looking better than the actual cut-out. Sabrina believes that people who create something with their hands put a little bit of their soul into their work, and it's this that makes handmade products such an antidote to our fast moving, ready-made consumer world.

Transiskus, Sabrina

A journey in paper

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Dewi Brunet started folding at 15 years old, in class. “I was lucky to dislike school,” he smiles. “This gave me plenty of time and paper for my early personal training.” He studied social science and urban planning, but the fascination for folding was too strong, and he could but follow this artistic path. “It is accessible yet full of potential: a simple sheet of paper can become anything. It is one of the only crafts where you generally do not add or remove anything from your material, you simply modify its structure.” His hands are his main tools, but Dewi also works with machines and robots. He collaborates with experts in other disciplines, such as textile designers, to make creations that fit in contexts as diverse as art, fashion, design, architecture and robotics. Plants are one of his major sources of inspiration.

Some of my work could be digital for  : 1) tools/machine I create to reinvent my folding craft (ex my Folding loom) 2) my art-science project Plantoid I have been working on the past years creating new “Oribotics” (robotised folded creations)

Brunet, Dewi

A fascination for folding

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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.

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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