An Island of Light is the title of the new edition of Homo Faber, an immersive journey through fifteen exhibition spaces set within the monumental complex of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, spotlighting the work of master artisans and craft artists from around the world.
After La Biennale, and in just four editions, Homo Faber has rightfully earned its reputation as both a “must see” and a “must be”. From 1 to 30 September, this highly experiential appointment unfolds as an immersive journey through fifteen exhibition environments set within the monumental spaces of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Conceived by Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte and the Michelangelo Foundation, and guided by the latter’s general director Alberto Cavalli, Homo Faber shines a spotlight on the work of master artisans and craft artists from around the world. A spectacular celebration of beauty, refined in every detail, entrusted this year to the artistic direction of the much anticipated Es Devlin, who has explored the essential relationship between light, materials and human craftsmanship.
Homo Faber uniqueness and its future
I would not presume to make a comparative analysis, because every curator and every institution pursues its own goals in the best possible way. From the very beginning, however, Homo Faber has sought to develop an original language through a series of cultural and strategic choices. Uniqueness, for instance: we work with care and dedication to select objects of extraordinary quality and to create authorial scenography that welcome them in the most meaningful way. We try to give value to services and hospitality, from dining to cultural mediation, through projects conceived specifically for Homo Faber. We are committed to ensuring that the time spent inside Homo Faber is qualitatively rich, filled with discovery, wonder and a sense of belonging, so that visitors feel they are living a truly singular experience. Inclusivity as well: we aim to welcome everyone by offering the most suitable tools to understand the exhibition, the objects and the values that motivate us. From the artisans themselves to entrepreneurs, from leading architects to young students, from Hollywood stars to the thousands of visitors who choose Homo Faber as their destination. Everyone must be able to find meaning here. And we try to achieve this above all through our Young Ambassadors. Finally, authenticity: Homo Faber was born as a celebration of human talent, and it is around these values that we have always sought our expressive identity.
The cultural model of the 2026 edition
Every object in the exhibition has been carefully selected by our internal team, which, following Es Devlin’s guidance. worked with experts from all over the world to identify the works to be presented. Our Vice President, Hanneli Rupert, then examined and validated each piece individually. Every creation arrives at Homo Faber with a long and complex history behind it, the result of significant time and craftsmanship. At the centre lies a complex artistic vision that imagined each object’s position and function within the exhibition: every piece chosen for Homo Faber 2026 is like a letter of an alphabet, or a syllable, which the public is invited not only to observe but to read. In their sequence, in their variety and diversity, they collectively express the contemporary language of beauty, one that transcends borders and sinks its roots into the very heart of human talent. The cultural model proposed by Homo Faber has always moved in this direction: toward the creation of a movement, a community, a meaningful structure centered on the individual, with their dreams and strengths. Individuals who must feel part of a world built around skill, around the freedom to transform that skill into a profession, and around the need to give all of this a visible and powerful form.
Es Devlin’s artistic direction
Es Devlin has imagined a Homo Faber structured around light, an element of which she is an undisputed master. Light, water, archetypal elements, colours: every aesthetic expression has been interpreted by her as a starting point for creating coherent and effective rooms and scenography: sometimes monumental, other times more whispered, yet always respectful of the centrality of the artifacts and the master artisans. She approaches every project holistically: the exhibition spaces are often enriched with video, soundtracks composed specifically for the show, special luminous atmospheres, or objects commissioned expressly for Homo Faber 2026 and conceived by Devlin herself, in a fertile and respectful dialogue with the artisans.
The most unexpected object selected for San Giorgio
It is very difficult for me to answer this question: we have over 700 objects in the exhibition, created by more than 500 artisans from over 70 countries. Each one surprised me with its quality, the intuition of its makers, its delicacy, or at times its monumentality and ambition. However, I believe the twenty panels displayed in 20 Silent Songs, in the Cloister of the Cypresses, will astonish visitors for their incredible variety. Starting from twenty drawings by Es Devlin, each inspired by the vibrations created in the air by the sound of bells: twenty ateliers from twenty different countries produced circular panels using twenty interior decoration techniques. One shared language, countless variations, countless creative possibilities, in a meditative and orderly setting: true nourishment for the mind.
Technology and contemporary artistic production
The relationship between human talent and technology deserves particular attention: it is a dialogue that has always accompanied the evolution of the arts and techniques, through tools, materials and the possibilities offered by science to artistic expression. Nulla ars sine scientia, the alchemists said; and master artisans know well that technique, technology and manual skill are indispensable for achieving the results they aspire to. But they also know that technology is a tool; and like all tools, it reveals its potential depending on how we use it. If human creativity employs technological evolution consciously and critically, the dialogue becomes interesting. But if we passively accept a progressive standardization of taste and expressiveness, welcoming innovation mechanically as something inevitable, then we face not a choice of freedom but an imposition with little appeal.
The one change needed in today’s high craftsmanship system
I believe that the culture of constructing beauty is fundamental at every level: we must continually reaffirm the value of design, restore prestige to training, and narrate with truth and passion how much commitment is required to create objects that become iconic and represent us over time. Today we are almost forced to choose quickly, guided by seductive images that often conceal unacceptable aspects tied to inhumane or extractive production methods. The culture and economy of beauty demand that we restore centrality to design and process, as well as to the product. We must return to valuing all those who, like a true homo faber, shape the beauty of the future with creativity and awareness, becoming interpreters of a different way of producing, using and transmitting.
