Born in the Karst Plateau close to Trieste, Laura Vaccari, a slow flower stylist – as she likes to call herself – grew up in the woods, swept by the hard-blowing Bora wind. She goes back any time she has a decoration, a flower arrangement or wedding staging to prepare. “What nature leaves, I collect and use in my atelier” she explains. “I pick up broken branches and pieces of wood, prunings and hay from the fields, wild flowers from the side of the road. The less I cut, the better.” Her raw materials may seem humble, even ugly sometimes, but her creativity turns them into beautiful, delicate decorations worthy of a king’s palace. “I just look around and get inspired” she says. “Searching and discovery are definitely the best part of my profession.”

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For a different approach to home decoration and an all-round creative experience, flower designer Laura Vaccari offers a naturalistic walk in the woods close to Trieste, in the striking scenery of the Karst Plateau. Laura will help you see nature with new eyes, finding beauty in unexpected places. Together you will collect broken branches, roots and other plant materials that you will use for creating your own wreath, centrepiece, flower basket or bouquet back at her studio. Laura will also talk about her simple style and sustainable philosophy, explaining why she always chooses seasonal and local rather than imported and stabilised plants.

A creative walk in the woods near Trieste

Create your own flower decorations

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Welcome to Laura Vaccari’s world of floral inventions. After a short introduction to her simple style and sustainable philosophy, this enthusiastic flower designer will teach you the fundamentals of decoration with seasonal, local flowers and the basic techniques to create charming decoration from the humblest materials. In a few hours, you will try your hand at turning pieces of wood, broken branches, hay and wildflowers into your choice of long-lasting home decor: a centre-piece, a wreath or an amazing floral sculpture. Laura will bring all the materials needed. Nice chats and refreshments are included.

Make your own flower decorations in Trieste

Learn to decorate with flowers and plants

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This piece, Late winter mise en place, was created for a winter wedding. The simple, surprising arrangement displays both beautiful, seasonal flowers – a tulip, a grape hyacinth and a daffodil – and their bulbs, which are normally hidden underground.

Late winter

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Lots of different wildflowers, that Laura picked up in the fields and dried, are simply arranged on a recycled wooden plank in this piece, known as Suspended meadow, or Prati sospesi. The arrangement is made to be attached to the wall like a painting and is a representation of what the artist saw on the horizon.

Suspended meadow

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Flying meadows, or Prati volanti, is an arrangement of white flowers and wild herbs sticking out of a piece of acacia bark which is placed horizontally, representing the ground. The arrangement is framed by an iron rod bended into a circle and hung on the wall.

Flying meadows

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Part of the nest, or Nido, series, this is a one-of-a-kind botanical sculpture made of intertwined wildflowers and flexible pruned branches. The base is an old wooden beam, recycled from a roof.

Nest / Nido

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Supported by a birch log, this nest, or Nido, is made of intertwined birch branches containing a bunch of yellow wildflowers, picked up in the meadows. Dragonflies made from wire complete the composition, which is a unique piece.

Supported Nest

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Daughter of painter and sculptor Bruno Sapiente, Chiara Sapiente was born into art. From her father she has inherited a sense of beauty and the love for colour, but she has found her own medium for expressing them – flowers and plants. “I have been in love with greenery since I was a teenager,” she says. “At 13, I worked in a flower shop where they paid me in succulents.” Growing up, Chiara found a job at Frida’s, a flower store with many shops in Italy. There she understood that retail was not her cup of tea: events and installations were far more exciting to her. That is why in 2014 she opened up her own floral studio, Sfumature di cipria (Shades of powder), a name inspired by her passion for vintage style, rock’n’roll and the 1950s.

Sapiente, Chiara

Rock'n'roll flower compositions

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PROFILE

Some people are born with a vocation. Others find theirs by chance after experiencing many different things. This is case with sisters Laura and Teresa Cugusi, who worked in many artistic fields before going back to their family farmhouse in Tuscany. There, they established the first flower farm of the area, specialised both in the cultivation of seasonal flowers and in sustainable design, with a focus on weddings. The sisters decided to start a business together, in order to save their family farm that had fallen into disuse. One day, Laura and Teresa made some bunches with French honeysuckle, sainfoin and other wildflowers and sold them to nearby restaurants, they were a hit.

Laura & Teresa Cugusi

The flower girls

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One day, a few years ago, Mario Nobile was riding his bike through a flower market in the centre of Milan when he spotted a guy, a florist, who was handing over a potted plant to a lady. He had a big smile on his face and Mario instantly wanted to be happy like him. That’s why he resigned from the pharmaceutical company where he had been working for 12 years, after studying chemistry and pharmacy at university. It was a well paid job, but he didn’t like the life he was living. So he opened Offfi, his small flower shop in the heart of the Isola district, one of the most fashionable in town, where he sells his unique floral creations.

Nobile, Mario

The beauty of imperfection

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Nunzia Guerino was just 18 when she arrived in Paris at Gilles Pothier’s renowned flower atelier. Washing the stairs was the first task she was given, but after a few days, Mr Pothier, who she considers her greatest teacher, saw her handling flowers and took her under his wing. Young as she could seem back then, Nunzia was all but inexperienced. Her grandfather was a florist and her mother owns a flower shop, where she has helped since childhood. Yet, running the family business was not her cup of tea. She has lived in Holland, Paris and Vienna for several years, working as a flower assistant. Recently, she decided to go back to Apulia and do her own thing.

Guerino, Nunzia

Winds of change

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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.

Create your account

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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