Sigita Olte’s road to become a ceramicist started in high school, where she fell in love with the craft. Then came years at the Art Academy of Latvia, where she did a Masters degree with a monumental work, titled “Imprint” – a large scale fingerprint in nature, built from unburnt bricks – telling a story about the ever-changing world. In 2018, she opened her own workshop, Oltes Ceramics. She mostly creates her works by wheel throwing, using stone mass. The techniques and the materials used in her works represent the tradition. However, the innovations are the glazes and glazing techniques she uses and the shapes she creates. After all the years of practice, Sigita reckons she could make a dish on a wheel in three minutes, yet to completely finish an object it can take up to three weeks.

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This 10-stop itinerary takes you on a discovery of the pearl of the Baltic, the city of Riga. The capital is home to many craftspeople practising traditional Latvian crafts like woodcarving, weaving, pottery and jewellery making. Wander through the historic old town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, and witness how age-old techniques and innovative artisans breathe new life into cherished traditions.

Riga: a historic brush with craftsmanship

Established in 1201, Riga has evolved into the cultural heart of the Baltics, earning the title of European Capital of Culture in 2014. Discover our curated itinerary to discover the history and marvel at preserved medieval architecture of Riga’s enchanting Old Town.

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This set of small and medium ceramic plates are handcrafted from stoneware and glazes. The small plate is made for dessert serving and the bigger plate for larger meals. The plates are made using a wheel thrown technique and glazed with grey, pink and black colour using a special splash technique. The plate creation process involves treatment, glazing and firing in a kiln two times. The bisque firing is at 850°C and the glaze firing is at 1,240°C.

Ceramic plate set

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This wheel thrown cake stand displays the natural white colour of the stoneware clay and is decorated with pink glaze as well as ceramic gold beads. The cake stand is made with a wheel thrown technique and later treated and glazed. The material is fired in the kiln three times – bisque firing followed by clay transformation in the bisque firing and finished with glaze firing.

Cake stand

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This decorative dish with a lid can be used for storing sugar, treats or other small items. The dish is made from a combination of materials, stoneware – which is glazed with pink and black glossy glaze – and a porcelain golden coloured handle. The dish is made using a wheel thrown technique and the handle is handmade. The material is bisque fired three times and finished with glaze firings.

Decorative dish with a lid

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This minimal design bowl with a contemporary colour selection on a stand is handcrafted from stoneware and glazes. The bowl has both design and practical use. It is a beautifully designed piece, and it can also be used for storing treats or other items. The upper part is glazed with glossy pink glaze, the outer part decorated with golden beads, and the stand is glazed with white glossy glaze.

Treats bowl on a stand

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This minimal design wheel thrown stoneware vase is glazed with white and pink glossy glaze and golden dots. The piece is made using a wheel thrown technique and later it is treated and glazed. The vase is bisque fired three times and finished with glaze firing – the maximum temperature reaching 1240°C.

Golden-dotted vase

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Viola Anna Bīriņa’s road to ceramics has been a long and a winding one. Several  degress, a life in Prague, lecturing at a University… No matter what she is doing, she always finds a creative approach. When she married ceramicist Staņislavs Viļums and moved to the countryside, she slowly started to try her ceramics. As an apprentice, she learned the ancient, local techniques of pottery making, and developed her own style. At first, her works were criticised as they were far away from the conventional perception of the Latgalian pottery. But she continued to develop her style and gained recognition for her unique vision of centuries-old pottery traditions. It is as Viola Anna says: “Traditions are like roots, innovations are like buds, blossoming every spring.” And she continues to make her creations blossom for the 13th year already.

Birina, Viola Anna

When buds blossom

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Linda Ķivule represents the young generation of Latvian ceramicists. She already gained public notice during her second year of the studies at the Art Academy of Latvia. It was her delicate and clever plates, reminding striped and checked papers from notebooks that caught the public's attention. Since this time in 2017, she has graduated from the Academy, opened her own workshop, and plans to start her Master studies this year. Her creations in porcelain truly seem to be alive – so airy, so refined and real. The bite on the edge of the bowl really looks as if some animal or a person took a nibble. And the 'paper' plates have wrinkled a bit, and often have a little reminder written on them.

Ķivule, Linda

Porcelain that seems to be alive

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Kristīne Kārkliņa has swapped her busy life in the city for the tranquility of her hometown Zvārtava to pursue her passion for creating with her hands. Her artistic journey led her to explore the possibilities of traditional concrete techniques. These are time-consuming and physically strenuous, yet result in delicate and intricately detailed pieces that blend minimalism with a meticulous attention to detail. The clean lines and unadorned forms reflect Kristīne’s fascination with the raw aesthetics of the 1960s and 1970s, although she does not draw inspiration from any particular artist. Instead, her surroundings, nature, and natural processes are her biggest sources of inspiration.

Karklina, Kristine

Concrete smoothness

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Laine Beriņa’s path to becoming a ceramicist might have started as a hobby, but she has never regretted the choice to turn it into a small business, and it is still as much a passion as a job. Her porcelain tableware is instantly recognisable for its pure, pastel colours and fine, clean shapes. Laine’s work proves that porcelain can be contemporary and original. It also breaks with the convention of the traditional dinnerware set, since her porcelain pieces can be mixed and matched. It takes a lot patience and calmness to work with porcelain. To symbolise this state of mind and the love that is put into each object, Laine often draws a little golden heart at the bottom of a piece, which is only seen when the cup or bowl has been emptied.

Berina, Laine

Patience, purity and porcelain

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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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