Tholu Bommalata: stories in leather and light
Kanday Anjannapa | Mysore, India
HOMO FABER 2026 E-CATALOGUE
The heart of Homo Faber 2026 is this real craft studio in which master artisans working with porcelain, leather, paper, textiles and more demonstrate their skills and making processes to visitors, while restorers (present thanks to a partnership with World Monuments Fund, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum and Open Care – Servizi per l’Arte) showcase the techniques involved in bringing a work of art back to life. A rare chance to observe craft artists at work, ask questions, and discover each stage of the making process: the raw materials and tools scattered across the workbench, the smell of clay, leather or molten metal in the air, the sketches and half-finished objects on the walls and shelves, and the beauty that comes from it all. On display around the room, a rich selection of masterpieces – including a stunning planetarium – reveals the exquisite result of this coming together of creativity and craftsmanship. By placing the makers themselves at the heart of the experience in this way, An Island of Light brings visitors closer to craft, inspires the next generation of artisans and gives practitioners of different métiers d’art the chance to meet and connect.
Sculpting lightness, feather by feather
Julien Vermeulen | Paris, France
Silver meets gold: the variety of decorative silverwork
Jessica Jue | London, United Kingdom
Painting stories on porcelain
Jayne King | Chicago, IL, USA
The poetry of feather mosaic
Henar Iglesias | Fresnedillas de la Oliva, Spain
Crafting tableware with a jeweller's touch
Heath Wagoner | Brooklyn, NY, USA
Crafting miniature worlds from paper
Hannah Levesque | Lille, France
Murano glass: the art of engraving
Giovanni & Vincenzo Barbini | Venice, Italy
The mastery of Barniz de Pasto
Gilberto & Óscar Granja | Pasto, Colombia
Lace forged from metal
Giacomo Bevanati | Córdoba, Spain
Fire and glass: a living process
Florian Rosier | Lantenay, France
Sculpting stories in cameo
Fabio Ottaviano | Portici, Italy
Carving the language of Syrian architecture
Eshraq Alabrash | London, United Kingdom
Shaping gemstone into sculpted jewel
Elsa Marceau | Idar-Oberstein, Germany
The sculptural language of leather
Elaine Chan-Perryman | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Pietra dura: where stone becomes a second skin
Studio Lél | , Pakistan
Rediscovering glass sign writing
Daniel Plavecký | Prague, Czech Republic
Inside the perfumer's palette
Commune | Bruton, United Kingdom
Quilting as abstract art
Claudia Pettway Charley & Cathy Mooney | Alberta, AL, USA
Illustrating ceramics through sgraffito
Clara Holt | Milan, Italy
Painting in plaster: the art of scagliola
Cecilia Falciai | Florence, Italy
Contemporary papermaking from reclaimed materials
Cartiera Manualis | Fabriano, Italy
The hidden architecture of pop-up worlds
Bruce Foster | Houston, TX, USA
Micro-origami, from sheet to sculpture
Anya Midori | Nuthe-Urstromtal, Germany