From childhood to travel, from love stories to dreams: the Journey of Life that I gave myself in Venice on a sunny Saturday in September was a continuous discovery, full of wonder.
And The Journey of Life is precisely the theme of Homo Faber 2024, an event dedicated to the art of contemporary artisan excellence, this year with the extraordinary artistic direction of Luca Guadagnino together with the architect Nicolò Rosmarini.
The two, with their vision and creativity, developed the theme with a very engaging installation that winds through the monumental complex of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, in Venice.
I arrived in Venice in the morning and reached the island with the ferry boat. Upon my arrival I was greeted by the magnificent Labyrinth of the Foundation.
What awaited me was an important exhibition of more than 800 objects from 400 artisans from over 70 countries around the world.
And the objects themselves, in a surprising variety of techniques and approaches, are here the tool to tell the main phases that mark existence in a series of rooms.
After passing the Labyrinth, in the Cloister of the Monastery of San Giorgio, the Game of the Goose is staged through 60 tables, hand-made with different techniques, which illustrate the Game of the Goose. My attention was focused above all on those decorated with embroidery and Jacquard.
The path inside starts from the theme of Childhood, with a first room that is built like a handcrafted toyland, full of wonder.
One of the most beautiful rooms is that of the Celebration, here understood as conviviality, which is staged in the Palladian Cenacle and opens with an immense table on which objects of all kinds are displayed in different materials, from ceramics to silver.
In the room dedicated to Love I was able to admire precious jewels and colorful bouquets including the porcelain work “Bouquet of Tulips” by Anna Volkova and a selection of high-end jewelry by Van Cleef and Arpels. Some artisans from Maison Cartier then told us about the creation of the Maison’s classic panther, which requires 170/200 hours of manual labor.
After a break at the Cafe I went into the room dedicated to Travel, where I was delighted by the spectacular Globes by Leonardo Frigo, created using the techniques of the friar Vincenzo Coronelli and which date back to the second half of the seventeenth century. It was very interesting to discover that in the friar’s ancient writings there are many tips on how to produce glues, where to find paper, and from which trees to obtain the wood to make these globes.
Sculptures of all kinds decorate the room dedicated to Nature, and the one that struck me the most was a sculpture in recycled paper and cardboard that reproduced the wonders of the sea in a very precise and pleasant way.
A very suggestive experience awaited me in the room dedicated to Dream, where a room immersed in darkness hosted handmade masks from all over the world.
Inside the room there was also a Pool in which an installation by Maison Alaïa had been inserted, presenting in a truly original way the clothes designed by the new creative director Peter Muller.
The last room, dedicated to the Afterlife, presented articles that referred to it, such as beautiful ceramic urns.
In particular, I was very struck by a painting that retraced the darkest moments of history through allegories or the use of writings such as Hiroshima and Chernobyl, created with incredible mastery, beautiful and disturbing at the same time.
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