Highlights of Homo Faber 2022

The colossal Venetian exhibition of craft is back for its second edition, with 15 exhibitions showing work by over 350 designers and artisans from more than 30 countries. Spotlighting both traditional skills in danger of being lost alongside cutting-edge contemporary techniques, the event – run by the Switzerland-based Michelangelo Foundation – aims to safeguard and champion skilled making.

We took a tour of its venue, the cultural centre and former convent Fondazione Giorgio Cini on San Giorgio Island. Here's our highlights of Homo Faber.

Spotlight on Japan

As part of the event’s ambitions to become more global in its scope, this year features a a special focus on Japan. An exhibition titled 12 Stone Garden celebrates work by 12 of the country’s National Living Treasures, and is curated by designer Naoto Fukasawa and Tokugo Uchida, former chair of the committee that chooses which artisans will receive the honoured title. ‘I believe that the Japanese system of Living National Treasures is one that governments around the world can learn from in their efforts to protect cultural heritage,’ Uchida wrote in Crafts’ March/April 2022 issue. On display are bizenware pottery, naturally dyed kimonos, bamboo basketry and more. Also look out for The Ateliers of Wonder: a photographic series showing the artists in action by renowned Tokyo-based photographer Rinko Kawauchi.

Ceramics

The exhibition Porcelain Virtuosity showcases pieces by contemporary sculptors, as well as collaborations between designers and porcelain manufacturers, against the backdrop of a historic 17th-century library. The works range from intricately detailed sculptures by Katsuyo Aoki, best known for her macabre depictions of skulls, to cabinets inspired by flora and fauna by Brazilian designers Humberto and Fernando Campana, made with French manufacturer Maison Bernardaud.

A new generation

A showcase of contemporary works titled Next of Europe is Homo Faber’s comment on the future of craft, and an implicit acknowledgement that long-standing traditions won’t survive if they don’t change with the times. The show features work by the likes of textile artist Anya Paintsil (featured in Crafts' January/February 2021 issue) and designer Marcin Rusak (see Crafts' November/December 2020 issue), which comment on social justice issues such as racism and the environmental crisis, through to experimental projects such as design studio Gerner Jahncke’s vessels made using soil from different countries.

Paper making

This homage to paper craft curated by designer Michele De Lucchi reveals the beauty and diversity of the medium, and the skill required to work with it. ‘Paper is a timeless and ageless material,’ he says. Works in the show, titled Magnae Chartae, include immersive installations such as Charles Kaisin’s Origami For Life, a cloud of suspended origami birds created by people around the world to raise money for humanitarian causes, as well as a range of existing artworks, such as vessels created from paper pulp by Kristina Rothe and Rogan Brown’s intricately cut wall-based pieces. Alongside these are demonstrations by fountain pen-makers, such as Mont Blanc.

Venetian mosaic

Treviso-based design studio Zanellato Bortotto – comprising Giorgia Zanellato and Daniele Bortotto – have a longstanding interest in the relationship between places and the passing of time. For their site-specific installation at Homo Faber, they took inspiration from both the floors of Venice’s iconic St Mark’s Basilica and the city’s exposure to the sea. The result? Kaleidoscopic mosaic panels in textured and coloured brass, steel and copper, featuring imperfections and inconsistencies to comment on fragility, resilience and how the elements are impacting the rapidly eroding city.

A handmade resting spot

In creating the event's lounge space – The Artisan: A Crafted Tearoom – curator Tapiwa Matsinde drew on her expertise in international crafts and her special interest in makers from across Africa, to create a restful environment furnished with objects by makers from around the world, including the likes of South African artist Punch Shabalala, Argentinian designer Gabriela Bellon and Chilean ceramicist Soledad Christie. While taking a breather, visitors can play chess on a colourful set made by London-based wood carvers Naseer Yasna and Hedieh Wojgani of Lazlo Studios, or play pool on an angular table by Berlin’s Andrea Zambelli and Nat Wilm.

Moving art

Mechanical Marvels is a charming collaboration between ECAL, the art and design school in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Association Mec-Art, a group of artisans in the nearby town of Sainte-Croix. The group specialises in ‘mechanical art’, such as automata, music boxes and handcrafted watches. They are showing five installations of movement, music and light, which visitors can bring to life at the turn of a handle.

Homo Faber runs until 1 May at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on San Giorgio Island, Venice