Art and (J) Craft

The spellbinding majesty of Venice, her coral skies illuminating the Grand Canal in a dusky creative direction orchestrated by the gods, never fails to take the breath away. But on a particular evening in August, at the bustling confluence of waterways and the Adriatic Sea that St Mark’s Square looks over, it’s rush hour. Vaporettos slosh by carrying locals and tourists alike, and the Venice Film Festival is also in full flow, ensuring a steady thoroughfare of glossy water taxis.

However, there’s one vessel cutting through the bustle that’s entirely distinct from the rest; a J Craft boat, some 12-plus metres of her, a siren’s song of gleaming mahogany, teak and buttercup yellow, diamond-stitched leather upholstery. She makes her way gracefully across the opaline lagoon to Homo Faber, the craft showcase unlike any other that’s taken over the Isola San Giorgio Maggiore.

J Craft is a guest of Via Arno, a new venture associated with Homo Faber that debuted this autumn to showcase, preserve and celebrate craft. In real terms, that means a service launched to celebrate and preserve artisanal excellence with which to lend artisans a stage through which to reach global audiences who want a luxury experience that’s more nuanced and thoughtful than the soulless corporate process. Via Arno set up a physical manifestation at Homo Faber, the Via Arno Salon, at which J Craft was stationed (well, as close as the jetty could allow – the handsome vessel was actually a stone’s throw away).

J Craft was invited to participate in Via Arno at Homo Faber because of the skilled workmanship it showcases. It is one of the few boat-makers devoted to a truly unique hand-crafted offering. Owner Radenko Milakovic’s team of ‘Vikings’, as he terms them, run an operation from Sweden’s Gotland that’s as far from mass production as can be. Boats can take 8,000 person-hours to craft and the highest levels of artisanal excellence are applied, alongside quirky personalisation to the vessel of your choice. Only two to three J Craft are made a year, and in total, since 1999, just 31 have been built (the first was a commission for the King of Sweden).

‘From the moment we met with Radenko and the J Craft team I had a great feeling about our collaboration in the Via Arno Salon,’ says Annia Spiliopoulos, Via Arno Co-Founder and Director. ‘J Craft blend heritage and innovation in their making process, and they are obsessive about the aesthetic as much as about the engineering, to the very last detail. This relentless pursuit of human-made excellence, and rich storytelling, is exactly what we are about.’

What better way to be ferried through the waterways of Venice than on board one of the rarest and most astonishing displays of artistry and engineering you’re likely to see. For those lucky enough to get a ride on the J Craft, the mode of transport was thoroughly appropriate, as they were in town for Homo Faber.

‘My job is to tell a story and with Homo Faber we get to tell the most incredible stories of craft excellence,’ said Oscar-winning film director Luca Guadagnino upon the unveiling of the exhibition, alongside its curator Alberto Cavalli, Executive Director of the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship. Guadagnino – who in recent years has extended his reach into design and interiors, opening a hotel in Rome and designing a range of rugs for Jaipur Rugs, which was showcased at Homo Faber – is a passionate aesthete. ‘It’s also about the future of craft and the importance of this place and these islands,’ said the director, gesturing to the lapping waters beyond that eventually lead to various archipelagos and Burano, famous for lacemaking, and Murano, a historic benchmark of glassmaking excellence. ‘A connection to the past, with a focus on the future.’

That sentiment was evocatively echoed in the astonishing exhibition that unfolded. Sections explored ‘The Journey of Life’ as conceived by Hanneli Rupert, Vice-Chair of the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship, through design, fashion, art, technology, watches and jewellery – from the Birth section devoted to a series of spectacular embroidered panels through to stories around Childhood, Celebration, Inheritance, Dreams, Journeys and the Afterlife, among others. It was an expansive undertaking, hugely impressive in its scale and breadth.

‘We conceived this edition of Homo Faber as a narrative through precious moments,’ said Alberto Cavalli. ‘It’s a journey through human life, exploring the passion and beauty of craftsmanship along the way.’

This could stand as a testament to J Craft. The Swedish vessel is not only a beautiful expression of hand-made craftsmanship with its rich combination of materials – and in its ocean-going capabilities, so much more than a pretty day boat – but it is also, for its owners, a much loved part of family life.

In Venice, situated in a series of spaces throughout the spiralling cloisters and leafy courtyards of the San Giorgio Maggiore, the vastness of Homo Faber was astonishing. Take the Childhood section, for example; a Jenga game-set by Italian glassmaker Alessandro Mandruzzato sat alongside a spiralling French chateau that was a dollhouse, crafted by hand by Eric Lansdown and as grand as anything on the Versailles estate.

The opulence of the Celebration section took the breath away; a vast mirrored table featuring all manner of table-scaping ephemera, crockery and glassware; a silver Buccellati centrepiece spilt with artichokes, alongside fantastical glasses from Nason Moretti and plates from Artefacto Madrid featuring imagery of a Virgin Mary version of Cher. The Love (Courtship) section was one of the most moving, for the quiet beauty of the florals that erupted in glass cases. They resembled natural bouquets, but the flowers were crafted in myriad materials such as glass, paper and porcelain. One of the most sensory of all the sections was the one devoted to Dreams, in which there was a still lake in the centre of a darkened space on which were displayed an army of mannequins draped in Azzedine Alaïa’s iconic silk hooded gowns, as famously worn by Grace Jones, as liquid as the water beneath them. Lining the walls were variations of masks in multiple forms, from fearsome Amazonian creations to ones dotted with jewels.

It’s a testament to the commitment of Johann Rupert, CEO of Richemont, the luxury conglomerate which backs Homo Faber, that such a feat is possible. Similarly noble is the commitment to encouraging a new generation of craftspeople; students studying various forms of craft were enlisted as tour guides, receiving a once-in-a-lifetime chance to stay in Venice for several weeks during the exhibition.