Homo Faber 2026: The future of handmade

Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription

At a time when AI bosses are making headlines, warning that their machines may become too powerful to control, Venice is a city of hope. With its quiet argument for handmade and human intelligence, be it at the Venice Biennale, Homo Faber or the zillion art and design shows across the city, it provides a winning case for where human agency should remain.

On the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Homo Faber 2026 unfolds under British artist and scenographer Es Devlin’s keen direction, across workshops, cloisters, a labryinth, a mirrored hall and a swimming pool. It is a celebration of things made slowly and deliberately and by people who have spent years learning the craft.

British artist and scenographer Es Devlin | Photo Credit: Victor Picon

But in his opening speech, Alberto Cavalli does not dismiss technology; he calls it a tool. As executive director of the Michelangelo Foundation, Cavalli oversees this biennial exhibition of contemporary craftsmanship (running September 1–30, 2026). “If you go to an artisan’s workshop, they have many tools, but they will not use a hammer if they have to use, you know, scissors. Every tool has its own function,” he says, drawing a line at the moment the tool begins to replace human ideas and talent. Meanwhile, Devlin wants visitors to the exhibition to understand that “artisan thought” happens through the fingertips. During an interview with a handful of journalists, she says it is vital not only to think with the cerebral cortex but to “think through the body”.

“The collaboration with the JSW Foundation and the Jindal family has helped me approach contemporary Indian craftsmanship with a good eye. You can discover exquisite Indian craftsmanship that reveals its heritage without becoming folk. I have nothing against folk, but it’s not the Homo Faber way. I think tradition or heritage is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire, to borrow from composer Gustav Mahler. And this is very important when you look at a country like India with a population that is very young, a country that is not a country but a continent with so many faces, cultures, identities, and that still expresses its identity through craft. This requires all of our respect” Alberto Cavalli Executive Director, Michelangelo Foundation

In this fourth edition of Homo Faber Biennial, Devlin’s An Island of Light features about 700 exceptional objects, 500 artisans and more than 70 countries, across 15 unforgettable installations. More than 40 of the artists and ateliers are from India, including Ankon Mitra and Shalini Mithal, Gunjan Gupta, architect Rooshad Shroff, and the designers Vikram Goyal and Tarun Tahiliani. Supported by the JSW Foundation, Indian crafts are represented across the show, and it is a pleasure to find them holding their own, sometimes outshining their neighbours. You can spend hours ruminating over the objects in any one room or go back over several days to soak up Devlin’s immersive theatre. A few to get started:

A Full Moon Rising: Clearly the standout.