Rossella Casadio is a mosaic artist who has an unmistakable style and great originality. Educated in Ravenna, the capital of early Christian mosaics, she developed a personal vision which led her to the renovation of this ancient art through the creation of unique, contemporary pieces. Born and raised by the sea, in Cesenatico, where she now has her atelier, Rossella is inspired, above all, by the marine world and its creatures. To make her mosaics, she “paints” on wooden reused boards, with a variety of materials: rich and poor, traditional and uncommon, new and recycled, from the Venetian gold and smalti, to old rusty nails. In a never-ending technical and imaginative research path.

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One morning, Rossella Casadio found sudden inspiration. She saw it clearly and sharp in her mind, bright and shiny in the sun's colours, so she created it. They told Rosella that there is such a fish in the Rio Paranà in Argentina called the “Dorado”; is it maybe the fish she dreamt of? The mosaic was made using the direct technique on a wooden support painted with oil colours.

Yellow fish

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Solitary, imposing, magnificent with the appearance of a prehistoric creature! During her research of materials she hit this rusty scythe blade and immediately thought of the swordfish sword! This is how this work was born. The mosaic was made using the direct technique on an hold door of a farm house. The mosaic has a depth of 13 cm and the total weight is 21kg. Mosaic to hang on the wall.

Swordfish

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This mosaic, handcrafted from inverted white Venetian gold, Venetian smalti and crystals, is crafted using the direct technique on an old farmhouse door. This door immediately appeared to Rossella as a blank canvas on which to create a school of brilliant fish swimming in the crystalline sea. The mosaic, created to be hung on a wall, has a depth of 4cm and the total weight is 23kg.

Sardines

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The Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d'Arte is a private non-profit organisation founded by Franco Cologni in Milan in 1995 to bring about a renaissance in artisanal crafts and secure the future of craftsmanship. The foundation’s initiatives are primarily focused on young people and the training of the next generation of artisans. It supports and carries out a number of cultural, scientific and educational programmes, including the development of an important collection of publications related to craftsmanship, an innovative apprenticeship scheme, and a brand new title to recognise and celebrate master artisans.

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The sound of a bow saw cutting stone was the music that accompanied Leonardo Scarpelli’s childhood. In fact, he was born into the workshop, where he spent years running after his father Renzo, a real master in the art of commesso fiorentino. “They used to tell me off all the time, because they said I was bothering everyone. In reality, I had already understood that it was the world I wanted to live in.” However, at the beginning, Renzo wasn’t at all persuaded of his son’s choice and tried to put him off in every way. “He thought that I wanted to follow in his footsteps just because it was the easiest road, and not because it was my true passion.”

Scarpelli, Leonardo

Painting in stone

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Scagliola developed in the early 17th century as imitation marble for geometrical decorations in architectural works, before taking on more pictorial qualities. It was originally produced in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, which were naturally rich in selenite crystals, from which the plaster used in this technique was obtained. Thanks to the Medici family, scagliola became a successful artistic medium at the beginning of the 18th century, although the fashion died out fast: in the mid 19th century, workshops started to shut down and shops selling scagliola soon disappeared. Bianco Bianchi revived this tradition after World War II, and his children Elisabetta and Alessandro continue to practise this rare carft to the present day, now assisted by Alessandro’s son, Leonardo.

Bianchi, Elisabetta & Alessandro

A traditional Tuscan art revived

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Maurizio Betti inherited his interest in craft activities from his father Pasquale, who was in the 1970s an official restorer for the Municipality of Rimini: he helped restore the famous and beautiful Roman mosaic that depicts the ancient port of Rimini. Genuine art, in Maurizio’s opinion, "is about truth, goodness and beauty": that’s why his greatest masterpieces are the big and scenographic aviaries, which protect birds from cold and bad weather. Maurizio has loved birds ever since he was a child: his grandfather was a gardener and taught him a lot about nature and animals. Today Maurizio works with his partner Loredana, a professional decorator, and his son Jonathan. Together they run a workshop located in an old stable surrounded by a fairytale garden.

Betti, Maurizio

The aviary maker

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Fratelli Traversari is one of the few studios in Italy that continues a tradition born at the end of the 16th century. Today, siblings Letizia and Daniele are the fourth generation of stone marquetry and mosaic artists in the family. The atelier's history begins in Florence with the founder Arturo, around 1870. At that time, the studio was only a small souvenir shop, already specialised in high quality custom made jewellery, created with the micro mosaic method. Daniele and Letizia own the business now with the help of their cousin Lorenzo, who is particularly skilled in the commesso fiorentino technique, the Florentine mosaic made with hard stones. Together they have brought a modern approach to the ancient craft.

Traversari, Daniele & Letizia

A colourful world

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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.

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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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