The Power Of Craft (introduction by cyril zammit all panelists on stage)

The Uzbek Chapter
Keynote Alberto Cavalli


What is the Michelangelo Foundation


Who are the founders


The three projects:

• 
  Homo Faber Guide
  
• 
  Homo Faber Fellowship
  
• 
  Homo Faber Event
  

Why do we invest in craftsmanship?
Because we want to propose a new model of sustainable and conscious development, based on the centrality of human talent in the creative and respectful (though at times innovative) transformation of materials to create, or maintain, forms of beauty: the Homo Faber Economy.

That is: a system that does not arise as an antagonist to the forces of history, but as a viable proposal that intends:

1. 
   To give value to what the hands of men and women can do, and always will be able to do, better than any machine
   
2. 
   Integrate technological achievements by using them as a tool at the service of human talent, of a creativity that arises from human interaction and curiosity, of empathy
   
3. 
   Give value to the territories, with their traditions, their crafts, their identities which are often expressed in specific activities, impossible to transfer but which run the risk of becoming marginal
   
4. 
   Strengthen a productive culture that contrasts waste, that preserves the environment, that values ​​interactions between subjects instead of the exchange of objects, that does not impose superordinate production models that create waste and poverty
   
5. 
   Help young people identify their talents, and then transform them into a profession that makes them not only self-sufficient, but also happy
   
6. 
   Underline that at the roots of luxury, excellence and beauty there are always human talent, empathy, a human touch
   
7. 
   Invite travelers to discover, in the places they visit, the ateliers and workshops that express the most authentic side of the territories.
   

It is a theory that capitalizes on the many movements which, in recent years, have understood the power of craft in transforming not only materials, but also the lives of women and men to give SENSE to what we do, create, buy, exchange, transmit.

As early as 2008, Thomas L. Friedman - facing the frightening scenario of the global crisis - stated that "average is over". In other words: the way to get out of the crisis lies in feeling like artisans, or people who work with a distinctive trait that reflects a personal and motivating pride in a job well done.

And before that, Richard Sennett (from a sociological point of view) and Stefano Micelli (from an economic and entrepreneurial point of view) underlined the centrality of the craftsperson as a new paradigmatic model, able to offer an alternative and sensible answer to the massification and homologation that the processes of globalization inevitably entail.

And since 1950, in Japan, the most important holders of these fine artisanal and artistic skills are called National Living Treasures.

The Michelangelo Foundation works to ensure that these treasures, wherever they are – persons whose teaching is precious and rare - can increasingly become understandable, visible models capable of arousing vocations, so that their work is valued to the point of allowing them not only to support themselves, but also to pass on their know-how.

Because the real enemy is not technology, but ignorance.

Invisibility.

The irrelevance of what is good and beautiful, compared to a standardization that minimizes our humanity.

The banality of a sloppy, shabby vision, which does not respect identities or values ​​and which imposes visions marked by what the anthropologist Herzfeld called "gentle racism": a paternalistic, superficial inclination tinged with ill-concealed contempt for crafts , deemed as forms of work belonging to the past, or vile, or linked to poverty.

A position that arises from ignorance and laziness, because crafts are the real competitive advantage of the territories and can offer to those who love beauty a real epiphany, a discovery, a profound emotion.

But in order to ensure that the model of the Homo Faber Economy is visible and considered, it is necessary to invite people to change their point of view on crafts, on their value and on their future, and on the culture of work in general.

Considered a champion of the Arts & Crafts movement and of the Pre-Raphaelites, John Ruskin wrote that by imposing a mechanical and unnerving completeness on the craftsman, industrialism had created a new class of slaves: dull tools rather than men.

«To tame souls, to shatter the vital branches of their intelligence, to transform flesh and skin (…) into leather thongs with which to yoke themselves to the machine, this means being truly slaveholders».

The Michelangelo Foundation works to produce a change of perspective, that set free human being from these real or metaphorical thongs: «Not knowing how to do nothing is no longer the aristocratic sign of the modern intellectual, but the mark of a subjection endured, of a servitude that lasts, of a freedom not regained» (Cesare de Michelis).

These are the messages we wish to strongly underline: that to be proud of our work, and to create beauty thanks to our talent, we must be free to rediscover the happiness of doing. We must rediscover the value of direct knowledge, linked to artisanal transformation. Henri Focillon already wrote it, speaking of the metamorphosis of Daphne del Pollaiolo:

«...her arms are transformed into branches, their extremities become fronds blown by the wind. And it seems to me that I see the man of antiquity breathe the world through his hands, stretch out his fingers to make a net capable of grasping the imponderable. (…) art is made with the hands. They are the instrument of creation, but above all the organ of knowledge".

Artistic crafts have the power to transform the world, creating a necessary beauty through a conscious knowledge.

And making happy, and therefore beautiful, those who choose this path: but it is necessary to provide the right tools to know, to love, to appreciate, to choose.

Otherwise, as in the case of Beauty and the Beast, if we don't have the courage to choose what we love, we run the risk of finding ourselves with something that doesn't match us (example of Belle and the rose).

In a world of performers, the crafts remind us that we are all interpreters: people able to read deeply into the beauty of the world, to draw new forms of beauty from it.

There are many stories that we have collected, presented and valued over the years, thanks to our projects, of talented persons who are not only executors but real interpreters, able to give sense to the notion of contemporary beauty, and to thus to give sense to their lives.

There are the girls and the boys from the community of San Patrignano, one of the largest rehabilitation centers in Europe, who in the workshops of wallpaper, weaving, leather goods and carpentry take back the reins of their lives, rediscover their freedom, transform solitude in the joy of doing – well – together.

There are the great master artisans who no longer feel alone, because they see that their figure is once again considered central to the community and can therefore pass on their know-how into the future.

There are urban artisans, who represent the most effective form of production in the city: not factories but ateliers, which create employment and work without polluting and without distorting the neighborhoods.

There are women who rediscover the strength of craft to express a political message of freedom and awareness.

There are masters who carry out rare trades, and who thanks to Homo Faber feel part of an international community that appreciates their singularity and promotes it.

There are young people who find the courage to learn, to refuse the approval of those who want them to be passive consumers of content, and to become the creators of tomorrow's beauty.

There's us: we may not be artisans but we can learn one thing from artisans: to live with sense.

According to François Cheng, "sense" indicates a sensation, a meaning and a direction: only in this way do we know that we are faced with the authenticity of beauty, which in order to be authentic must have "sense".

The transformative power of craft lies in offering all of us the possibility of rediscovering it, this sense that leads to authenticity.

In the rediscovery of sensations, in a digital world: our hands, our ears, our nose, our tongue – we feel the sweetness of beauty, we are nourished by these human exchanges, we are transformed by the consciousness of the real taste of life.

In the awareness of going in the right direction, that is towards sustainability and fulfillment, in a world that struggles to find the pleasure of sharing and walking together.

And finally, in the need to give meaning to what we do: because we are not insects, whose closed effort is devoid of happiness, but human beings who seek beauty and who wish to discover it, create it and pass it on, precisely to give meaning to our being together.

Like the lily among the thorns is my beloved among the girls: there are so many thorns, so many forces that seem to suffocate our kind invitation to change perspective.

But there is also the lily: what is splendid, different, wonderful will always make us fall in love.

And love is the only force that will always make us seek truth, freedom and happiness.