alberto cavalli on homo faber 2026 and the future of craft
'the intelligent hand moves everything': alberto cavalli on homo faber and the future of craft<br>design connections: +230
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INTERVIEW WITH ALBERTO CAVALLI ahead of homo faber 2026
Following a widely acclaimed 2024 edition , which saw Italian director Luca Guadagnino transform the San Giorgio Maggiore island into a poetic Journey of Life, the Homo Faber Biennial returns to Venice for its fourth edition this September. Organized by the Geneva-based Michelangelo Foundation, the cultural showcase at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini invites audiences in an international celebration of craftsmanship , where hundreds of master artisans and rising stars from around the world come together to demonstrate the skill, talent and creativity that goes into crafting objects by hand.
Through its flagship event, alongside a global digital artisan guide and extensive educational fellowships, the non-profit organization provides a powerful, tactile counter-narrative to modern disposability, mass production, and aggressive dematerialization. ‘We may live in the era of AI, but we’re still made of flesh and bones, and our senses are still the best interceptor of the spirit of the time,’ Alberto Cavalli, Executive Director of the Michelangelo Foundation, tells designboom. This physical grounding drives the upcoming edition of Homo Faber, titled An Island of Light . With creative direction by British artist Es Devlin , the 2026 biennial will map 15 immersive spaces across the historic Venetian site. Devlin’s spatial design draws from the geography of the surrounding lagoon, relying on water, mirrors, and kinetic elements to shape light around the work of international makers. Rather than a standard showcase, the layout treats each artisan as a distinct island of talent connected by the shared currents of their trade.
Ahead of the opening, designboom spoke with Cavalli about the upcoming biennial, why the human hand remains our most precious instrument for understanding the world, and the foundation’s active role in equipping the next generation to keep artisan traditions and techniques alive.
executive director Alberto Cavalli | image by Susanna Pozzoli © Michelangelo Foundation
THE BIENNIAL’S PURPOSE AND DETAILS OF THE 2026 EDITION
For the Michelangelo Foundation , the Homo Faber Biennial is structured to push back against standard commercial sourcing. Rather than operating as a conventional trade show, the event looks to alter how contemporary architects, interior designers, and decorators choose and specify objects, techniques, and materials for their projects. By wrapping the exhibition in storytelling, the foundation builds a tangible defense for handmade objects over mass-produced alternatives.
‘These artistic and creative concepts, developed by refined art directors like Luca Guadagnino and Es Devlin, are a fruitful and inspiring way to put again craft, and handmade objects, at the centre of our lives,’ Cavalli says. ‘It is important to create a plausible narrative structure, to convey emotions and to trigger attention: Homo Faber is not a fair, a Salon or an exhibition – it is an authentic celebration of human talent and ingenuity, and these narratives are fundamental to invite the visitors to feel part of this community.’
Homo Faber 2024: Birth | image by Giulio Ghirardi © Michelangelo Foundation
This intent directly shapes the setup of the 2026 edition , An Island of Light, taking place across the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on San Giorgio Maggiore. Devlin’s creative direction relies on light as both a practical focus tool and an active element within the different environments. These range from A Language of Hands, which builds a working artisan atelier for live demonstrations, to A Full Moon Rising, where historical Korean moon jars sit inside a 1960s swimming pool to catch reflections from the water. In other rooms, the moving shadow sculptures of An Alphabet of Objects transition into the saturated, mirror-backed colors of A Rainbow of Forms. This layout forces visitors to engage with the environments where these objects are actually born, rather than looking at them on a shelf.
To Cavalli, light here is intended both physically and metaphorically. ‘Homo Faber is a movement...