Rosa once saw the Virgin Mary move. She felt her penetrating gaze and was shaken to her core. She believed that this statue had spoken to her. She was only six years old and when she dared to touch it and realised that it could not move, she did not lose faith. She decided recreate the same kind of statues in terracotta. She started making early on in life, as she constantly watched her wise and hardworking mother make vases, pots, chorotes, pans, and casserole dishes. Rosa believed her mother was as tireless as she was self-sacrificing. She understood what it took her to bring mazamorra (sweet porridge made with milk, corn and sugarcane) to a table of seven people every day. She also noticed how women who resold products in the Villa de Leyva marketplace earned more than her mother and all the other potters who worked from dawn to dusk.

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During this experience to Las Otilias workshop in Ráquira, Colombia, Rosa Jeréz carries out a trade demonstration, through which the visitors are allowed to watch the making-of process of the Holy Mary: from the preparation of the clay, including all the stages to obtain an optimal clay, to  the creation of the final product. During this process, Rosa tells her story, her legacy, the transmission of knowledge and how she imprints life in her crafts through special and unique characteristics. The visitors are allowed to create and take home their own clay Virgin Mary following Rosa’s instructions.

Visit a ceramic taller and see a demonstration

Observe and have a go

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The Virgin of the Mystic Rose is made of red clay, modelled by hand, in a conical shape. It has flowers painted with slips on the white cape and roses in high relief. At the base are two candle holders that are covered with flowers in shades of blue.

Otilia Virgin of the Mystic Rose

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The Virgen del Carmen is made of red clay, modelled by hand, she has a conical shape and is holding a child who wears a scapular. The white tunic as well as the mantle have red clay edges and on her head she wears a crown with stars.

Otilia Virgen del Carmen

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The traditional peasant woman is made of red clay modelled by hand. She has a conical shape and wears the typical costume worn by grandmothers, a black skirt with a coloured ribbon on the hem, a hat and a shawl where she wraps the child to carry him on her back.

Traditional peasant

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The Virgin of the Rosary is made of red clay, modelled by hand and it has a conical shape. The figure is holding a child, her tunic is blue and the terracotta edges are decorated with pink flowers.

Otilia Virgin of the Rosary II

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The Virgin of the Rosary is made of red clay, modelled by hand, and it has a conical shape. The clay is then dried, fired and painted in slips. The figure is holding a child who carries the Rosary in his hand, flowers are engraved on her cape.

Otilia Virgin of the Rosary I

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Since 1964, Artesanías de Colombia has promoted and supported Colombian craftspeople. Their mission is to strengthen the work of the country’s artisanal sector through revitalising and preserving crafts and techniques that are integral to Colombia’s cultural heritage. The non-profit organisation masterminds innovative and sustainable development programmes which benefit the country’s artisans. The training programmes focus on human development, entrepreneurship, codesign, production and commercialisation. The organisation strives to aid Colombian artisans to grow their businesses to meet market expectations.

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María Cano Casas’ was born into a strong family heritage of philosophers, educators, and journalists. She nourishes and evolves her craft through exploration and cultural exchange. Her contact with native communities in Colombia has been a calling to record and preserve ancient ceramic techniques and to seek knowledge exchange opportunities both locally and abroad. María has a bachelor’s degree in Arts and Crafts from Los Andes University, Bogotá and an MA in Production Design for Film and Television at Kingston University, London. She opened Salvaje in 2016 with her first restaurant commission to design a tableware series. Today, she creates unique decorative and sculptural pieces as well as utilitarian and custom tableware for a select clientele, redefining the ancestral techniques she wholeheartedly wants to preserve.

Cano, María

A beacon of hope for ancestral techniques

PROFILE

CENTER

INT2

INT1

Diego Añez first connected with ceramics when he was just a child. As a young adult, he travelled the country to know the craft in more depth and learn from the best masters. He spent more than 15 years marvelling at the creations in each region and understanding that the use of ceramics has deep roots. Today, Diego runs the Magma Cerámica workshop with his wife, María Paula, where they create innovative and unique ceramic objects. Diego, now in his sixties, has been awarded the Medalla a la Maestría Artesanal (Craftsmanship Mastery Medal). His greatest treasure is knowing that he continues to spread the knowledge that so many others handed over to him. This is how he honours them, he says.

Añez, Diego

Heritage ceramics for use today

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Rosa Salazar and Miguel Aviles grew up in clay, and clay brought them together. Their families were artisans and they sourced their income from selling the products they made. In fact, Rosa’s mother, Mrs. Ninfa Salazar, is one of the best shiners in La Chamba: she skillfully and patiently rubs the black pots that are characteristic of this town of Tolima to give them the finish that has made them famous. Rosa and Miguel both started crafting wares from a very young age. It was what they had to do to get out of poverty. Nowadays, their handcrafted objects are some of the most emblematic in Colombia.

Salazar, Rosa & Aviles, Miguel

The possibilities in clay

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Basic, undervalued and abundant, clay is transformed into meaningful, sculptural works and functional homeware by Lina Pardo’s hands. Her deep search for symbolism originated in her youth, in a big family where curiosity and freedom for exploration were encouraged. During an introspective gap year in Paris as a newly graduated anthropologist, Lina realised that clay was her real calling. It had been at the heart of her family all along, starting with her grandparents' brick business and her father’s work on ceramic pipelines. Today, Lina lives in her childhood home, in the foothills of Bogotá’s mountains, where clay is abundant. She draws much of her inspiration from the collective memory of her roots, ever-present in her work.

Pardo, Lina

Local clay for big thinking

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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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