News 
To promote traditional crafts and the transmission of know-how to future generations, the Michelangelo Foundation has launched the first edition of the Homo Faber Fellowship programme, in partnership with Jaeger-LeCoultre. The seven-month programme began in September with a training course in Lisbon (Portugal), followed by a masterclass focusing on creativity and entrepreneurship and certified by the prestigious ESSEC Business School.
It brought together 20 duos of master artisans (Masters) and recent graduates (Fellows). The programme focused on entrepreneurial skills: vision, leadership, brand desirability, digital marketing, drawing up a business plan... all subjects new to these apprentices, yet essential to their future careers.
During the masterclass, Jaeger-LeCoultre presented a case study on Art Deco design. Jaeger-LeCoultre’s CEO Catherine Rénier travelled to Lisbon to share the brand’s values and vision for craftsmanship and education. Inherited from a long history of passing on knowledge from master to apprentice, these values guarantee the survival of skills that are vital for future generations.
After the masterclass, each of the master artisans takes on their apprentice in their own workshop for a six-month training course in France, Greece, Ireland, Portugal or Spain. This first edition of the programme brought together an incredibly diverse range of talents, from ceramics and textiles to bicycle building, feather work and basket weaving. From the end of October, workshop training focuses more on developing practical skills. During the course, students work with their mentor to create an object for sale on a theme related to the Art Deco movement.
October 26, 2023