Milan Design Week celebrates artisanal crafts with Artesanos

Artesanos Manufactura Peruana makes its debut at Milan Design Week 2024, offering a narrative of heritage, renewal, and the timeless appeal of artisanal craftsmanship, with contemporary designs by Maddalena Casadei, Giulio Iacchetti, and Zaven. Curated by Luisa Bertoldo and Fabio Colaci, the project is on view at the revitalised Ex Cinema Casoretto in Lambrate until 21 April 2024.  

Artesanos Manufactura Peruana at Milan Design Week

Established in the 1970s, Artesanos is an initiative of Operazione Mato Grosso (OMG), a youth movement founded by the visionary Padre Ugo De Censi. The aim of Artesanos is to offer nourishment while nurturing impoverished youth through the language of art, sculpting a future liberated from poverty’s shackles. It’s a story where beauty intertwines with social transformation, where the hands that shape clay and carve wood craft destinies anew.

Over its history, Artesanos has evolved into a lifeline for over 400 artisans, weaving a tapestry of support across the Peruvian Andes and beyond, establishing schools, soup kitchens, hospitals, and more, each a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. In 2021, curators Luisa Bertoldo and Davide Fabio Colaci began collaborating with a cadre of volunteers and creatives, exploring the essence of Artesanos’ legacy, breathing new life into the ‘talleres’ – the workshops. 

Among the chosen figures to embark on this new chapter were Italian designers Maddalena Casadei, Giulio Iacchetti, and design duo Zaven (Enrica Cavarzan and Marco Zavagno). For the project, they travelled to the lofty heights of Chacas, the headquarters of Artesanos, nestled 4000 meters above the Andean peaks, to collaborate with the artisans on new designs made of wood.

Here, amidst the whispering echoes of centuries past, the ‘ADB24’ collection was born – a marriage of tradition and innovation, where the pulse of ancient cultures beats in harmony with contemporary design. As Colaci articulates: ‘Our project embodies a transformative process rather than originality per se. It’s a delicate interplay, melding the rich memories of Andean artisans with the evolving designs contributed by volunteers over time. It’s a layering of symbols and transformations from a distant land infused with our contemporary design culture.’