Homo Faber: Crafting a more human future

May 29, 2018

Homo Faber: Crafting a more human future will be an unprecedented celebration of the authentic, original and unique beauty represented by the creations of master craftsmen. The exhibition will thus be an opportunity to reflect on the different characteristics that we normally equate with beauty. There are, in fact, some characteristics that a certain culture, or rather, a distorted culture, associates with an idea of beauty that seems fake and ephemeral: the mere fact of being famous and successful seems to be enough to transform a person who has no merit other than popularity into someone fascinating and interesting. Even the mere fact of being “fashionable” is often considered sufficient, in itself, to confer an aura of beauty: this is profoundly wrong and leads to confusing approval with taste, and banality with identity.

There are other elements of beauty that seem to have been eclipsed, or in any case obscured. I am thinking of words such as grace, intelligence, elegance... Grace is a source of beauty: the fruitful dialogue between creativity and know-how, between design and fine craftsmanship, perfectly mirrors the need to create objects that are graceful because of their refinement and purpose, gentle in the way they evoke an authentic emotion and profound in their meaning.

The same considerations apply to the term elegance, which is always and only a feature of people, and which can be found all around us, made visible by the tasteful choices we make. Graceful movement, unpretentious naturalness, lack of affectation, proper posture and poise, the right tone: these characteristics are all associated with elegance, but they are also – as can be easily understood – inherently connected with one’s beauty, which makes all the difference. Therefore to redefine terms such as grace and elegance when describing an object that is made-to-measure, by hand and with passion will enable us to distance ourselves from an increasingly blatant vulgarisation of the concept of beauty. And if we are careful and curious, we will manage to understand the value of a handmade object that is not only wonderfully shaped, but also born of an elegance that is spontaneous and humanly touching: the elegance that belongs to genuine masters and great creative minds. A dialogue between enlightened minds that always makes us feel like intelligent and, hopefully, welcome participants.