Homo Faber Biennial, an international celebration of contemporary craftsmanship, has disclosed the highlights of its fourth edition happening in Venice, in the magnificent location of the Giorgio Cini Foundation, on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, from 1st September to 30th September 2026.
The flagship project has to aim to support and promote a cultural movement celebrating the ability of worldwide craftsmanship. For this edition, it will bring together 15 immersive installations presenting around 20,000 objects by about 5,000 artisans and 90 rising stars and designers.
The initiative curated by the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship, a non-profit institution based in Geneva, champions contemporary craftspeople worldwide with the aim of promoting a more human, inclusive, and sustainable future.
This edition’s title will be “Homo Faber 2026: An Island Of Light” and will focus its attention on a new macro theme devised by Es Devlin, a British artist, designer, and the artistic director of the initiative who has a deep respect for craftsmanship and has worked through her 30-year career with master artisans.
For Homo Faber 2026: An Island of Light, she has created a concept that showcases the skills and talents of craft artists selected from around the globe by framing their work with light, a primordial force that is not only at the heart of Devlin’s artistic practice but is also essential to craft, to raw materials, and to human life.
Inspired by the archipelago of the Venetian lagoon, Devlin has imagined a narrative that unites the work of hundreds of individual craft artists from across the world—each an island of talent and skill within the wider waters of craftsmanship—on San Giorgio Maggiore.
By manipulating light through the use of water, mirrors, movement, shadows, and more, Devlin will create a journey that illuminates the world of craftsmanship, from the craft artists themselves to their workshops, tools, materials, and the unique objects they create.