Homo Faber 2024. The Celebration Room features a convivial design banquet and a rug by Luca Guadagnino and Nicolò Rosmarini for Jaipur Rugs – Photo by Giulio Ghirardi, all photos ©Michelangelo Foundation.
Design–Luca Guadagnino has a special bond with Venice. This month, the Italian city hosts two major events of his career as an acclaimed filmmaker and interior designer. He presented his new movie Queer at the Venice Film Festival and inaugurated Homo Faber 2024, the third edition of a biennial showcase celebrating craftsmanship, now open to the public until the end of the month.
The Birth courtyard features a 3d-printed ribbon by Guadagnino and the Goose Game tapestries designed by Nigel Peake – Photo by Giulio Ghirardi.
Organised by the Michelangelo Foundation, a non-profit organisation co-founded in 2016 by Johann Rupert and Franco Cologni based in Geneva, Homo Faber, which means “man the maker” in Latin, features more than 800 exquisite objects by over 400 artisans from 70 countries around the world.
Luca Guadagnino and Nicolò Rosmarini – Photo by Giulio Ghirardi.
Through the theme The Journey of Life, devised by the Foundation’s Vice-Chair, Hanneli Rupert, Luca Guadagnino and Milanese architect Nicolò Rosmarini invite visitors to discover how craftsmanship is woven into the fabric of our human existence and beyond.
In the Dreams room Alaïa presented ghostly dresses looming over the Cini pool – Photo by Giulio Ghirardi.
The extraordinary scenography leads visitors on a metaphorical journey divided into ten exhibitions, each one dedicated to a different chapter of a human life: from birth to childhood (toys), celebration (tableware), inheritance (family studios), love-courtship (flowers), love-union (works of a conjugal theme), journeys (travel), nature (natural materials), dreams (masks), dialogues (collaborations) and finally the afterlife (ceremonial objects and ideas).
Inkomo ye Koyi sculpture by Zizipho Poswa in the Love (union) room – Photo by Alexandre Vazquez.
Discover a bespoke backgammon set gifted from grandfather to grandchild, handcrafted accessories that evoke memories of a woman’s round-the-world trip, the crystal glasses used to toast a couple’s wedding day but also ceramic flowers, furniture, knives, jewellery, a sculpture made from used cigarette filters, and Korean death hats.
Reef by Josh Glukstein in the Nature room – Photo by Alexandre Vazquez.
“The Journey of Life is an amazing and very streamlined and universal concept.” Explained Luca Guadagnino. “It led us to understand how to envelop the audience through the amazing architecture of the Fondazione Cini so that the craft on display would not be overwhelmed, but, at the same time, the place itself was given a lot of relevance.
Theater of Metamorphosis, Bouquet of Roses by William Amor – Photo by Alexandre Vazquez.
“It has been a tremendous experience of reflection on many of the great inspirations that have led our ideas, from Carlo Scarpa to the memory and history of Venice as a city of art.” Continues Guadagnino.
Untitled by Peter Olson and Korean death masks in the Afterlife room – Photo by Alexandre Vazquez.
The exhibition is complemented by Homo Faber in the city, a free and diffused programme which sees 70 ateliers throwing open their doors to the public. The project was developed by Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte, with the support of Cartier and in collaboration with prestigious Venetian institutions.
The Wishes by Hyejeong Ko – Photo by Alexandre Vazquez.
- Homo Faber 2024 – The Journey of Life runs from 1–30 September 2024 at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice. Buy tickets on homofaber.com; limited tickets are available on-site.
Nature room – Photo by Giulio Ghirardi.
All photos are by the ©Michelangelo Foundation.
‘Sets for a Film I’ll Never Make’ by Daniel Agdag in the Childhood room – Photo by Alexandre Vazquez.
