Art&Style

Homo Faber

The best of world craftsmanship on display in Venice

by Lavinia Colonna Preti
Homo Faber, world craftsmanship on display in Venice — Veneto Secrets

From 10 April to 1 May 2022, one of the most beautiful exhibitions ever hosted in Venice, Homo Faber, dedicated to artistic crafts, returns to the Island of San Giorgio at the Giorgio Cini Foundation.

The program includes 15 exhibitions curated by 22 international designers, architects and experts, covering over 4,000 square meters, and countless events throughout the city, dedicated to artistic craftsmanship and the poetry of the ingenuity of the good hand of man.

Strongly wanted by Johann Rupert, who in 1988 gave birth to Compagnie Financière Richemont, one of the world’s largest luxury groups based in Switzerland, and Franco Cologni, a career that began in 1969 at Cartier, today Senior Executive Director and member of the board of the Compagnie Financière Richemont, who together created the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship.

Homo Faber, world craftsmanship on display in Venice — Veneto Secrets

Among the most original (and difficult to be seen again in Italy) exhibitions, we certainly mention those dedicated to this year’s Homo Faber guest of honor, Japan, which tell of its millenary excellence in craftsmanship and design, such as Ikebana. An art also celebrated in the colorful “Blossoming Beauty exhibition, curated by the Michelangelo Foundation, Sylvain Roca and Venini, which features highly refined floral compositions displayed in glass vases specially created for the occasion.

Another wonder, “Details: Genealogies of Ornament”, curated by Judith Clark, perhaps the most influential expert in exhibitions dedicated to the fashion industry in the world, tells the artisan mastery behind the creation of luxury accessories, giving the possibility to observe the “behind the scenes” work of 15 fashion houses intent on creating unique pieces, such as the couture sculpture by Azzedine Alaïa, the silverware by Buccellati, the silk prints by Hermés, the jewels by Van Cleef & Arpels and many others.

Homo Faber, world craftsmanship on display in Venice — Veneto Secrets
Homo Faber, world craftsmanship on display in Venice — Veneto Secrets

The seventeenth-century library designed by Baldassare Longhena, one of the most beautiful in the world, showcases “Porcelain Virtuosity”, an exhibition curated by David Caméo and Frédéric Bodet, which celebrates some of the international artists who use innovative approaches in shaping white gold, such as the veiled busts of the Swiss François Ruegg, the rock skulls of the Japanese Katsuyo Aoki, or the ironic reinterpretations of the great classics of the Dutch Bouke de Vries.

In addition to the materials usually recognized as precious, Homo Faber also takes us to the discovery of commonly used ones that can become rare and precious in the hands of a master craftsman. Like paper, in the exhibition “Magnae Chartae”, designed by Michele De Lucchi, which leads us to the discovery of absolute wonders such as the papier-mâché bowls made with the pages of old books by the Swedish Cecilia Levy, the interlocking geometric sculptures of the artist Zoe Keramea, and the complex origami obtained by the Finnish craftsman Juho Könkkölä from a single piece of white paper.

Homo Faber, world craftsmanship on display in Venice — Veneto Secrets

The Homo Faber exhibition also offers the opportunity to explore the wonderful Island of San Giorgio with the Borges Labyrinth or the Vatican Chapels, created for the 2018 Architecture Biennale, and take the time to enjoy a lunch or an aperitif overlooking the lagoon.

Last but not least, the real wonder to “visit” are the protagonists of Homo Faber, the Venetian artisans who, for the duration of the event, open the doors of their magical ateliers to take us to the discovery of various arts, many of which are unique in the world. You can consult the list at this link; do not miss the flowery mirrors by Barbini, the glass jewels by Attombri, the sartorial accessories by Antonia Sautter and Stefano Nicolao, the gold leaves by Mario Berta Battiloro, the glasses and tableware by Nason Moretti, the velvets by Tessitura Luigi Bevilacqua, the Orsoni mosaics, just to name a few.

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Homo Faber

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