Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship extends its Summer School Programme to seven countries

An international educational initiative to fund selected young artisans and designers to take part in intensive short courses staged by members of the Michelangelo Foundation’s network, the Summer School Programme this year extends its presence to seven countries: Austria, France, Italy, Latvia, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.

Around 100 international participants to take part in this year’s Summer School Programme across seven countries
Seven short intensive courses give students a chance to experience a local craft
Participants will learn an array of skills from Japanese carpentry to basketweaving with digital fabrication
The foundation hosts its first Summer School in Africa with a course on Moroccan tile making
Young violin makers will join a mastersclass on the restoration of antique violins in Cremona, organised by the University of Pavia under the patronage of the Michelangelo Foundation, the course runs from 5 to 8 July 2022

Collectively the Summer Schools offer participants the unique opportunity to learn new craftsmanship skills, exchange knowledge with fellow students, master artisans and designers, and create original collaborative pieces. The programme seeks to transmit ancestral techniques to students who then apply them in contemporary ways and contexts, helping to safeguard traditional know-how.

The summer-long programme begins in June in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain where fifteen participants will explore traditional Talavera ceramic techniques from the Toledo region in connection with local gastronomy. Students will collaborate with both master artisans and chefs to create ceramic dinnerware to serve local gastronomic delicacies. Organised with Homo Faber Guide Ambassador Tomás Alía and co-financed by Contemporanea de Artes y Oficios, Municipality of Castilla-La Mancha, the course includes a complementary programme of lectures given by university professors on commerce, design, marketing and technology, as well as visits to ceramic workshops and gastronomy sites.

Twelve students will meet in Domaine de Boisbuchet, Southwest of France in June to get an introduction to Japanese Carpentry. Over the ten days, they will work with traditional woodworking tools, both individually and collectively. In the French wilderness, guided by the master carpenter Takami Kawai and the designer Wataru Kumanu, participants will have a chance to dive deep into this ancient craftmanship and sustainable construction method using the traditional techniques in a contemporary setting. Developed by Domaine de Boisbuchet, the course will take place at the same time as the construction of a traditional earthen Arab Pigeon Tower, allowing for interesting exchanges for all participants.

In August students will gather at the University of Évora to discover how digital design tools can be applied in conjunction with traditional basket weaving techniques to build a retractable shading structure. The collaborative creative process will guide students to design and build, unifying both high-tech and lo-TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge). Organised by Passa Ao Futuro and Dosta Tec together with _ARTERIA_LAB and the School of the Arts from the University of Évora. This programme is co-financed by Magallanes_ICC - Interrreg Portugal – Spain.

Later in the same month, sixteen students will combine creative talents at Ligatne, Latvia to explore the intersection between science and technology with crafts for furniture design. Focusing on the traditional craft techniques of blacksmithing, greenwood carving and birch bark weaving, participants will use the skills taught by renowned local artisans, as well as new technology to innovatively create one of the most essential pieces of furniture – the chair. The course will also count on the contribution of highly recognized international designers and artists to intervene as tutors and lecturers.

In St Pölten, Austria, fifteen students will gather in September to discover local stone masonry techniques under the guidance of designer Daniel Zeisner, Head of the Product Design Course of the New Design University. Working with local stone companies, participants will collaborate to explore using stone in unexpected and innovative ways combining traditional stonemasonry craft techniques with cutting edge technology. The course is supported by the New Design University, Stonemason guild and Austrian Chamber of Commerce.

For the first time, a Summer School will take place in September in Tétouan, Morocco, marking the beginning of the initiative’s international presence. Fifteen carefully selected participants will be able to discover the art of Zellige, a traditional Moroccan mosaic tile making technique. Through a collaborative approach and a contemporary design vision, students will reexplore and reimagine the age-old local craft. The course is organised in partnership with the Institut National des Beaux-Arts in Tétouan .

Course dates:

13 – 20 June, Ceramics and gastronomy, Castilla-La-Mancha, Spain
5 – 8 July, Restoration of antique musical instruments, Italy
21 June – 2 July, Japanese carpentry at Domaine de Boisbuchet, France
1 – 13 August, Digital fabrication at the University of Évora, Portugal
18 – 28 August, Philosophy of the Chair at Ligatne, Latvia
5 – 16 September, Stone design in St Pölten, Austria
10 – 24 September, The art of Zellige in Tetouan, Morocco

For more information, please visit michelangelofoundation.org

Notes for editors

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.

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.

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