Step into a space transformed into an artisan workshop, where selected master craftspeople from France and the United Kingdom create exquisite work right in front of you. Watch them demonstrating their time-honoured skills and dexterity, and come to understand how the future of traditional crafts can be ensured by training young talents. The artisans represent two organisations committed to defending and acknowledging craftsmanship: the French Savoir Faire Institute (Institut National des Métiers d'Art, INMA) in France, and the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) in the UK, both of whom work to promote craftsmanship and pass on traditional and rare crafts to future generations.
The French Savoir Faire Institute, with the support of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, presents four duos drawn from France’s Maîtres d’art-Élèves programme: talented craftspeople recognised as Maîtres d’art for their skills and their commitment to passing on their knowledge to younger generations, and their students (Élèves), who are now independent yet who still meet with their former teachers to share ideas, working tools and time in the pursuit of perfection. Whether working in the field of antique violin making, engraving, straw marquetry or photogravure, these artisanal duos represent the institute’s desire to safeguard rare savoir faire for the future.
The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST), a charity of the Royal Warrant Holders Association, supports the training and education of talented and aspiring craftspeople in the United Kingdom, with the aim of ensuring a future for traditional crafts by passing them on to a new generation. In this exhibition, QEST presents four talented individuals who are absolute masters in their fields and at the peak of their careers. Meet and observe the talented hands of a basketweaver, a luthier, a sculptor and a leatherworker, and see how they create beauty out of traditional materials and tools.
The Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship is an international, non-profit institution based in Geneva, Switzerland, which celebrates and preserves master craftsmanship and strengthens its connection to the world of design. Rooted in a tradition of culture and excellence and in the realities and challenges of today’s global economy, the foundation seeks to support men and women who dedicate themselves to the pursuit of master craftsmanship and to foster a new cultural movement built around the values that are essential for their work.
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