Donegal is a popular tourist town, located on the mouth of the River Eske; a picturesque setting. Here, you will find the Hanna Hats shop. Visitors to the shop can browse a selection of handcrafted hats, caps and accessories created using age-old methods of production. From selecting the fabric, to the final inspection, every piece must meet their high standard to ensure it lasts a lifetime. John Patrick recalls a recent customer to the shop who was wearing a hat he had bought there 42 years ago. Along with quality handmade products that offer ‘a little piece of luxury from Donegal’, you are sure to get a friendly and helpful service too.

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Every John Hanly piece that leaves the Ballyartella Woollen Mills is testament to the craftsmanship, quality and timeless beauty of this maker. From design to wrapping yarns, to weaving on the loom, each process is completed onsite, on the banks of the Nenagh river. The factory shop stocks a range of scarves and throws, all created at the mill. They work only with natural fibres, sourced from renowned suppliers who produce their wools and cashmere in an ethical manner. They even create their own electricity from their onsite wind turbine. John Hanly offers products that are handmade, sustainable and desirable.

JOHN HANLY WOLLEN MILLS

Traditional Irish woven textiles

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The Cat and the Moon has been a destination for craft lovers for over three decades. Established by Martina Hamilton, a craftsperson and business woman with an eye for quality, the shop provides a space for Irish makers to showcase their talent and diversity. In the shop you will find only high calibre handmade products. It also offers a bespoke jewellery service where skilled goldsmiths will create a piece custom-made for your needs. Excellent and friendly customer service make a visit to the shop a truly enjoyable experience. The Cat and the Moon offers an online retail platform promoting Irish craft to a global audience.

The cat and the moon

A destination for craft lovers

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Founded by Francie Duff and Sonia Reynolds, Stable presents the very best of Irish style and tradition. Its modern classics are for customers who value quality craft and the time it takes to make something truly special. Nestled in the entrance to the Westbury Mall, Stable is located in an area rich in creativity. The owners work with the best weavers and knitters from all over Ireland: north and south, young and old. Their aim is to nurture the extraordinary skills found across the country, and to put Ireland on the world stage of luxury textiles where it belongs.

Stable

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Donegal Craft Village is a collection of independent artisan studios in the North West of Ireland. In this scenic location visitors can meet the artisans, see them working and buy beautiful crafts. The craft village has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Established in 1985 to promote accomplished craftspeople, skill and quality are at the core of the work produced here. Today it houses the studios of The Pear in Paper (letterpress and linoprint), Michelle McKee (hand felted fine art) Mc Gonigle Glass Studio (glass art and jewellery), Niall Bruton (jewellery and sculpture), Clare O’Presco (hand weaving) and Johnny McCabe (painting).

Donegal Craft Village

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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.

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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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Hanna Hats of Donegal

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Hanna Hats of Donegal

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Hanna Hats of Donegal

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