Homo Faber NextGen - Homo Faber Fellowship - TRAINEE TO PROFESSIONAL 2022 - LAUNCH
The pathfinders of the Michelangelo Foundation’s new educational scheme share an insight into the six months they have spent as trainees to renowned master artisans.
The first edition of the Trainee to Professional programme has given seven aspiring craftspeople in Spain and France the chance to transform a dream into reality. Through a six-month paid traineeship in the workshops of renowned master artisans, the selected participants have acquired the skills and knowledge to embark on a professional career in their chosen crafts.
The programme has in turn enabled the participating master artisans to pass on precious knowledge, techniques and skills to the next generation, facilitating a creative exchange between young ideas and the wisdom of experienced craftspeople. This form of reciprocal transmission fulfils the main objective of the scheme to create a bright future not only for a young generation of promising craftspeople but for the crafts themselves.
The first year’s participating artisan workshops in Spain and France were: glassmaking workshop 40plumas in Barcelona; ceramicist Arturo Mora in Valencia; cabinetmaker Jordi Ribas Ros in Mallorca; restorer Nicolau Baucells in Ibiza; both jewellery maker Antonio Seijo and conservation and restoration workshop Santa Conserva in Malaga as well as boat building workshop Chantier Naval Borg in Marseille.
“Antonio has opened his doors to me, teaching me what he knows and encouraging me to take risks with my designs. He has sat with me to see the way I work and what I design, giving me new challenges, new ideas, inspiring my creativity and my motivation to create. For me, that is the most important thing, finding someone who believes in you and who is willing to pass on their knowledge.”
“From Daniel’s way of working and his creative solutions, you can feel all the passion he has for glass and it is something that he has transmitted to me from day one of the traineeship .”
“For me, teaching someone young has reaffirmed my values. What has surprised me most about this experience is that in the transmission of knowledge, theory is as important as the small details.”
“Being with a young person everyday who is eager to learn like Lucia, has taught me to finish one task and move onto the next one with a smile on my face and the desire to create.”
“The most important thing I have learned is to work quickly and produce series of pieces. Arturo has taught me that repetition is a very good master and the importance of good time management and consistency. This experience has given me the confidence to be independent and taught me how to embrace the challenges of life in a workshop and being a craftsperson.”
“Working with Clara has given me a fresh perspective and contemporary ideas both about how to present my pieces and how to promote them. Clara has taught me how to take good photographs and share them with new audiences on social media”
“I see a bright future for the craft. One can do a lot with a little. It is possible to always be working. It’s essential to seek out clients and always try to adapt to ensure a viable future for the craft.”
Following the success of the pilot year, the Michelangelo Foundation aims to expand the Trainee to Professional programme on a wider European and global level by working with local educational institutions and social organisations. The Trainee to Professional programme joins a suite of educational initiatives including the Young Ambassadors and Summer School programmes.
Notes for editors
michelangelofoundation.org
@homofaber
The Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship is a non-profit institution based in Geneva, Switzerland, which champions contemporary craftspeople worldwide with the aim of promoting a more human, inclusive and sustainable future. The Foundation seeks to highlight the connections between craft, the wider arts and the design world. Its mission is to both celebrate and preserve craftsmanship and its diversity of makers, materials and techniques, by increasing craft’s everyday recognition and its viability as a professional path for the next generations. From engaging educational programmes such as the Summer Schools, to its signature digital project the Homo Faber Guide and the international exhibition Homo Faber Event, the Foundation is fostering a cultural movement centred on master artisans and rising stars. michelangelofoundation.org
Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte is a private, non-profit institution founded in 1995. Based in Milan, it promotes cultural, academic and educational initiatives for the protection and diffusion of Italian artistic crafts. The Fondazione Cologni’s mission is to inspire a “new Renaissance” of the artistic crafts and rescue them from the threat of extinction. Many of its initiatives focus on young people and training future generations of artisans. fondazionecologni.it
Asociación Contemporanea de Artes y Oficios (ACAO) is an association that promotes both traditional and contemporary Spanish crafts. They seek to protect Spanish craftsmanship, and use it to foster the development of culture, history and art and boost its economic benefits on the environment and tourism industry. Their main targets are to ensure an environment in which Spanish craftspeople can thrive and to aid them in having further commercial reach in Spain and internationally. The ACAO collaborates with similar institutions to ideate best practices; they assist with the development of commercial platforms for craftspeople; they organise seminars, forums and talks. Beyond this, they use media for widespread visibility for arts and crafts; they launch programmes that promote crafts and engage in research projects. Their collective expertise enables them to provide consulting services to artisans and ateliers. forodeartesyoficios.com
The Craft Project is a French non-profit association born out of the podcast which goes by the same name, which has been promoting French craftspeople and craftsmanship since 2018. The association has several aims: firstly, to create a community of artisans who collectively think of innovative strategies to build the futures of their crafts. Secondly, to raise awareness of craftsmanship among the general public by introducing them to materials and to beauty. Lastly, to encourage vocations by shedding light on exemplary destinies and adventures in the arts and crafts. thecraftproject.fr
La Tecnocreativa is a fashion and design school based in Madrid that focuses on entrepreneurship, management and sustainable development. It seeks to preserve the traditional crafts linked to the creative industries and marry them with new technologies. The school revolutionises training with a model that combines online learning, thanks to televisual technology, with in-presence seminars for certain courses. A month-long course tailored to the Trainee to Professional programme was created with partner Assocíacion Contemporánea Artes y oficios for the participating students. latecnocreativa.com
Costa Crociere Foundation was created with the aim of disseminating and developing the values of the Costa Group through the management and financing of environmental and social projects with a common interest. A commitment that manifests in supporting and developing projects to assist communities they encounter on the Costa ships’ journeys, and which focus on environmental protection and the eradication of social inequity at a global level investing. They invest 100% of the donations they receive into projects to transform the daily work they do into a promise of happiness. costacrocierefoundation.com
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