Meet the Homo Faber Fellowship duos protecting and reimagining traditional heritage crafts

Safeguarding traditional craft skills is one of the key objectives of the Homo Faber Fellowship, which facilitates transmission from one generation to the next. As precious heritage crafts are closely linked to the region or country where they have historically been practised, they carry with them both cultural and historical significance worth treasuring. The challenge is making these ancient skills relevant for today’s society and the future which is why the programme seeks to build awareness about heritage crafts and ensure they have a bright future. The selection jury identified several duos who are dedicated to perpetuating heritage crafts, here below delve into the stories of three of them, from lacemakers in Ireland to woodworkers in Spain specialising in Mujader ceilings.

A father-and-son duo protecting a local Spanish craft

Luis Mínguez Serrano & Gonzalo Mínguez Mínguez, bookbinding, Spain

Luis Mínguez Serrano is an award-winning bookbinder from Santorcaz, a small town outside of Madrid, who specialises in restoring the covers of ancient books, as well as making covers for contemporary novels, poems and art books. Each of his covers is a unique work of art and the result of hours of painstaking effort that has gained him the appreciation of connoisseurs, historians and art collectors. He took over the bookbinding atelier from his father over 30 years ago, and today he carries on with passion and dedication, while passing his skills onto his own son. “To this day, classic or modern, gold leaf gilding, embossing, inlays, incisions, bas-reliefs, textures, mosaics; I have worked on everything. Perhaps the most important part of my training has been my subsequent research with experimental techniques, giving my career a unique style.”

Gonzalo Mínguez Mínguez grew up spending long periods of time in the bookbinding workshop of his father. His interest in the material development of artistic thought led him to study architecture and history of art at Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. Today, he brings his architect’s vision to his family’s bookbinding legacy, with the hope that by innovating the techniques passed down through the generations, he can ensure the continuation of a local heritage. “We recognise that preserving bookbinding as part of our heritage has incalculable value in postmodern society. Our goal is to be part of an international community of artisans who exchange ideas and learn how to adapt to the world today,” Gonzalo expresses.

Speaking about the prospect of continuing to train with his own father, Gonzalo says: “My father has trained in some of the world’s best workshops, which no longer exist and he has developed his own techniques and ideas which are yet to be passed on to anyone, so it’s a unique opportunity for me to acquire skills which would otherwise be lost.” Their family craftsmanship tradition is at risk due to a market reduced to a series of clients in a very specific geographic area and the lack of substantial projects make practical learning, at times, unattainable. However, both father and son are optimistic about the future. They want to improve their craft by combining digital and artisanal techniques, merging Gonzalo’s artistic training with their region’s centuries-old tradition of bookbinding. Gonzalo concludes: “Bringing new knowledge to the craft is, from my point of view, the most beautiful way to honour and enhance a profession that is at risk today. This is paramount for any master who wishes to pass on their legacy,” Luis expresses, “to captivate young people with the magic that eclipsed me as a child in my father's workshop is finally within reach thanks to this education programme.”

The last teacher of traditional Irish lace and her eager disciple

Fiona Harrington & Jack O'Meara, lacemaking, Ireland

While studying for a degree in textile design Fiona Harrington discovered what would become her profession, creating lace. It wasn’t a first-time encounter for the Dublin-born craftswoman, through her mother and her country’s culture she was well aware of the significance of lace, as part of Ireland’s social, cultural and economic history. Today, she is committed both to reviving forgotten Irish techniques and to bringing handmade lace into contemporary design by creating a new kind of art for this traditional craft. “A key aspect of why I make lace is rooted in the belief that this tradition needs to be preserved,” she explains of her dedication to protecting a national craft heritage.

Her fellow Jack O' Meara is an emerging artist, designer and maker whose practice has mainly revolved around embroidery. With a keen interest in Irish history, he is eager to preserve and reinterpret aspects of history that relate to textiles, and place them in a contemporary context. His attempts to find a mentor to teach him the techniques and history of Irish lace have been unsuccessful, up until now. “I would love to be able to assist in making lace as a craft more accessible, as I have found the process very difficult myself,” he explains. He wishes to develop the necessary skills in Irish needle laces, following the historical processes behind them, and research the history of different lace styles. “Working from historical samples of lace and reverse engineering them is of great interest to be able to bring back certain styles of lace from ‘extinction’ through observation and study,” he says of his driving force.

Fiona echoes Jack’s desire to preserve this ancient textile craft and ensure it survives by passing techniques on to the next generation. “When I learned lacemaking, one of the most challenging aspects was finding a teacher. While interest in lacemaking has increased globally, finding in-person training, is still extremely challenging,” Fiona explains of the difficulties still facing lacemaking in Ireland. She is concerned about the techniques which are dying out and keen for Jack to help her revive them. “While some needle laces in Ireland are documented and still practiced today, such as my speciality area of Kenmare Needlepoint, others, such as Inishmacsaint Lace remain highly elusive,” she explains. It is a motivating factor for her participation in the Fellowship as she is planning to revive this style of lace by documenting the surviving examples in the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, recreating technical patterns, samples and developing material for teaching. Fiona stresses the important of being proactive “as this particular lace can only be revived if somebody takes responsibility for doing so.”

Reimagining traditional Spanish Mujader coffered ceilings for contemporary settings

Francisco Luis Martos Sánchez & Florencia Iracema Olivera Mutuberria, woodworking, Spain

Francisco Luis Martos Sánchez specialises in the creation of Mudejar coffered ceilings, a historical form of carpentry which consists of creating wooden panels with intricate ornaments. The craftsman creates exclusive pieces and seeks to preserve this noble ancient art, in Spain and beyond its borders. His activity has a great influence on the conservation of local cultural heritage, due to his restoration, research, and conservation work on different monuments. He is also very involved in the transmission of the craft. Francisco works with the same know-how used more than a thousand years ago when the first wooden ceilings appeared on the Iberian Peninsula. “During this programme,  I will pass on to my fellow a traditional technique used for thousands of years that is currently disappearing. It involves the artisanal technique of gilding and polychromy with natural pigments, a discipline that requires very specific training and practice to master it,” explains Francisco.

His fellow Florencia Olivera was born in Uruguay but has lived half of her life in Segovia and is passionate about traditional architecture and its elements. She started studying fashion design and industrial design at Segovia School of Art but soon feel in love with traditional materials so switched to restoration. “I discovered many ancient crafts in danger of extinction and I strongly believe we have a responsibility to make sure they endure” Florencia says of her decision to work with a heritage craft. She goes on to say that “few masters know the intricacies of this craft like Francisco Luis which is why I wanted to work with him. This programme will help us to highlight the value of Mudejar coffered ceilings, both artistically and structurally, as well as attracting other people to this unique craft.”

Francisco learned his craft as a child with great teachers and now he offers the same mentoring and dedication to its continuity. “I have welcomed students from art schools and faculties, directed heritage restoration projects, and I advise architecture and decoration studios. In all these actions I have seen that there is a great void in my profession,” says Francisco. Both Florencia and he are preoccupied with how to adapt this traditional technique to the 21st century. “In order to safeguard the artistic, anthropological and artisanal value while adapting it to the new social, economic and cultural contexts of today, we need an approach that combines tradition and artisanal mastery with finding new markets that value excellence in craftsmanship,” explains Francisco. He would like Florencia to learn to design and manufacture decorative elements according to traditional techniques but reimagined as new formats and pieces that fit into exclusive decorations or could be considered unique artistic objects.