Die Michelangelo Foundation for creativity and craftmanship bricht auf zu neuen Ufern mit ihrem Summer School Programme

Den Höhepunkt des dritten Jahres des Summer School Programme bildete ein zweiwöchiger Kurs, der sich der Herstellung von Zellige-Fliesen im marokkanischen Tétouan widmete.

Zu den 105 Teilnehmenden der sieben Summer Schools des Jahres 2022 zählten erstmals auch geladene, internationale Studierende
Bei einem Kurs zur japanischen Zimmermannskunst durften wir einen Schreinermeister und einen Designer aus Japan begrüssen, die ihr Handwerk unterrichteten
Die Studierenden untersuchten die Verbindung zwischen Gastronomie und Handwerk in Spanien

Das dritte Jahr des Summer School Programme der Michelangelo Foundation markierte den Beginn einer globaleren Ausrichtung der Bildungsinitiative. Erstmals wurde ein Kurs ausserhalb Europas in Marokko angeboten, und Studierende aus der ganzen Welt wurden dazu eingeladen, von den sieben Summer Schools zu profitieren. In den Kursen lernten die Studierenden spezielle Handwerks-techniken, die mit einer bestimmten Region oder einem bestimmten Land verbunden sind, sowie neue zeitgenössische Designfertigkeiten. Ein Kurs drehte sich auch um Gastronomie, da die Studierenden erforschen wollten, wie dieser Bereich mit dem Handwerk verknüpft ist.

Auf der Domaine de Boisbuchet in Frankreich erhielten 12 Studierende die aussergewöhnliche Gelegenheit, sich bei Schreinermeister Takami Kawai in japanischer Schreinerkunst und bei Wataru Kumano in japanischem Design unterweisen zu lassen. Sie nutzten ihre neu erworbenen Fertigkeiten und Kenntnisse, um in Handarbeit eine Baumbank für das Gelände zu fertigen. Das gemeinsame Designprojekt hinterliess ein bleibendes Vermächtnis mit einem Sitzbereich, in dem sich kreative Geister inmitten der Natur versammeln und untereinander austauschen können.

«Bei der japanischen Schreinerkunst geht es um Teamarbeit. Individuelle Technik ist wichtig, aber man muss im Team arbeiten und seinen Teamkollegen vertrauen.» Wataru Kumano, Japanischer Designer

An der Universität Évora in Portugal haben Studierende unter der Leitung von Domingos Vaz und Fernando Nelas Pereira mit Hilfe digitaler Fertigungstechniken und traditioneller Webtechniken eine dauerhafte Beschattungsvorrichtung aus pflanzlichen Materialien entwickelt. Das Ingenieur- und Technologieunternehmen Dosta Tec trug mit seinen Erkenntnissen zu einem ökologisch nachhaltigen Design bei, während die Architektinnen Fatima Durkee und Astrid Suzano ihr architektonisches Fachwissen einbrachten.

Im lettischen Ligatne fertigten alle Studierenden einen Stuhl durch Birkenweberei, Schmiedekunst und Grünholzschnitzerei unter der Anleitung der lettischen Kunsthandwerker Rihards Vidzickis, Vizma Zvirbule, Sören Uhlmann und Janis Straupe sowie der internationalen Designer Paul Heijnen, Maria Bruun, Lucas Maassen und Dmitri Bähler.

Im österreichischen St. Pölten arbeiteten 12 Studierende mit dem örtlichen Steinmetzbetrieb Breitweiser und der Kunsthandwerkerin Judith Wagner zusammen. Sie wollten erkunden, wie sich traditionelle Steinmetztechniken mit modernster Technologie innovativ kombinieren lassen, um Gebrauchsgegenstände und Kunstobjekte zu schaffen. Von aussergewöhnlichen Lampen bis hin zu Blumentöpfen, von humorvollen Gemälden bis hin zu einem Tisch als echtem Hingucker – die Teilnehmenden konnten hier ihre neuen Fertigkeiten mit einzigartigen Kreationen unter Beweis stellen.

In Castilla-La Mancha in Spanien schufen 17 Studierende für das mit einem Michelin-Stern ausgezeichnete Restaurant El Raices von der handwerklichen Tradition der Talavera und der lokalen Gastronomie inspirierte Keramikobjekte. Sie wurden dabei von dem Keramikmeister Gustavo del Pino, der Designlehrerin Laura Nava, dem Gastronomieexperten Fernando Rafael und dem Sternekoch Carlos Maldonado angeleitet.

Im italienischen Cremona trafen sich 12 internationale Studierende, die sogar aus Japan angereist waren, um unter Anleitung von fünf Meistern und Experten die Restaurierung antiker Musikinstrumente zu studieren. Der einwöchige Kurs bot den Teilnehmenden die Möglichkeit, die Reinigung und Restaurierung alter Streichinstrumente mit Hilfe moderner Technologien und traditioneller Handwerks-techniken zu erlernen.

Weitere Informationen finden Sie auf michelangelofoundation.org

Notes for editors

michelangelofoundation.org

@homofaber

The Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship is a non-profit institution based in Geneva 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 and 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 School to its signature digital project the Homo Faber Guide and international exhibition the Homo Faber Event, the foundation is fostering a cultural movement centred on master artisans and rising stars.

michelangelofoundation.org

homofaber.com

Contemporanea de Artes y Oficios (CAO) 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 CAO 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

Castilla–La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain comprising the provinces of Albacete, Ciudad Real, Cuenca, Guadalajara and Toledo, it was created in 1982. The government headquarters are in Toledo. Artesanía de Castilla-La Mancha has launched various initiatives with the aim of highlighting how essential it is today to generate synergies between the world of design and craftsmanship, to achieve artisan mastery as a technique for recovering tradition, a reflection of the culture, the people, the geography and the soul of Castilla-La Mancha, and thus projecting it exponentially beyond our region. castillalamancha.es

The Domaine de Boisbuchet is an international centre for research and education on sustainably innovative design and architecture. Founded in 1986 by Alexander von Vegesack, it is located in the Southwest of France on 150 hectares of protected nature, namely forest, pasture, a river, a small lake, and an unpolluted fauna and flora. Boisbuchet's core activity are workshops for professionals and students in all kinds of applied arts – from craft to industrial design and engineering, from photography to scenography and curating, and from food to fashion and architecture. Internationally renowned pioneers in their fields direct these workshops offering practical experiences in all aspects of the creative process. Likewise, creative residencies can be realized in Boisbuchet. Boisbuchet is run by a team of cultural entrepreneurs, architects, and designers and gathers participants, visitors, and partners from all over the world. boisbuchet.org

Passa Ao Futuro founded in 2016 by Astrid Suzano and Fatima Durkee, is a cultural initiative non-profit association that seeks out craftspeople in Portugal working with traditional techniques. It strives to support these communities and people through the documentation and preservation of their tacit knowledge, the development of case specific social, environmental and economic sustainability programmes, with a focus on the celebration and passing on of skills. The association activates this network through several initiatives including residencies, summer schools, exhibitions, social innovation and sustainability training. It supports the crafts as a catalyst for a regenerative future. passaaofuturo.com

Founded in 2016 in Riga (Latvia), MAD Design Summer School offers an alternative approach to design and art education. At MAD’s base lies a unique creative environment, shaped by bringing designers, artists, craftspeople and scientists together under one roof. It encourages creative development with this setting, by promoting dialogue, discovery and self-assessment. Its programme combines both new and traditional methods - fusing design, art, technology, science and craftsmanship – to allow true creative thinking to take place. By working with raw materials, young creatives are simultaneously guided towards a more sustainable manufacturing mindset. They are aided by talented local craftspeople in a programme to pass on savoir-faire. By preserving and passing on their knowledge, they aim to inspire tomorrow's designers in their journeys to create innovative and meaningful products. designsummerschool.com/

The New Design University St. Pölten (NDU) was founded by the Lower Austrian Chamber of Commerce and its Business Development Institute in 2004. As an international destination for quality education in the fields of design, technology and business, the NDU trains creative thinkers who advance social change and explore tomorrow’s work and design practice today. The New Design University is a young, future-oriented private university. Its distinguishing feature is the high degree of personal tuition; also, the university attaches much importance to combining theory with creative practice. The university is committed to offering the best possible career advantages to its approximately 600 students. The NDU is fond of blazing its own trail and is always on the lookout for creative thinkers willing to take untrodden paths. ndu.ac.at/en

The Institut National des Beaux-Arts de Tétouan (INBA) in Morocco is an institution of higher education in the field of art, under the authority of the Ministry of Culture. It trains creative young people in the various fields of visual arts. Its vocation is to stimulate the development of new talents and train creative personalities (artists, designers, comic book authors, animated films, etc.) who can follow singular paths within a wide spectrum of disciplines in the world of visual arts (modern and contemporary). A multidisciplinary team of research professors, artists, architects and experienced professionals ensure the theoretical, artistic and technical training and structure for the students. inbart.org

The University of Pavia is the most ancient athenaeum of Lombardy and one of the most oldest of Europe, being established in 1361. Today, it counts more than 25.000 students for the 17 departments of its branches, one in Pavia and the other one in Cremona, and takes part in international projects in networks with the most prestigious colleges of the world and promotes interdisciplinary research. The current Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage is based in Cremona and it offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Musicology, Science of literary text and cultural heritage, as well as a PhD programme. The International School of Violin Making is partnered with the University of Pavia’s musicology department. web-en.unipv.it

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