Earlier this week, Commune travelled to Venice to take part in Homo Faber: An Island of Light, curated by Es Devlin. Held on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the Biennial event brings together master artisans from around the world to share their crafts, staged across the island's historic buildings and gardens.
We spent our days offering live demonstrations of natural perfumery, guiding visitors through the process of building a scent from botanical oils. Our evenings were spent wandering the island, taking in as much of the other exhibitions as we could. It was a privilege to set up alongside so many extraordinary makers, and to spend time in conversations with them about their work.
Our Table
Our table held a perfume organ, as well as select aroma bottles, each filled with a single essential oil used in our Commune products. We invited visitors to experience each scent note on its own, the way we do when building a fragrance, and shared how different notes interact with each other. Visitors were curious about the creative process, and we talked through all the decisions that go into a finished blend, from why we choose natural fragrance and the aromatherapeutic properties of each essential oil, to how the essential oils we use are created and the unique distillation processes for each raw ingredient. It was a rewarding few days of conversation, sharing our world of perfume and the process that sits behind a finished product.
An Atelier Alive
We were situated in the ‘An Atelier Alive’ space, which gathered a range of makers working live. Set up on either side of our table there was a glass sign writer and a traditional gemstone carver, each demonstrating their craft practices. It was a space built entirely around process rather than finished pieces, watching works take shape in real time. Two of our neighbours in the space, Abdelnasser Ibrahim and Yanhui Xu, stood out in particular.
Abdelnasser Ibrahim shared his craft of creating hyper-realistic fruit sculptures from paper. He revealed his process of forming the sculptures, using crepe paper, toilet paper and glue, as well as the painting process, explaining how the different mediums he uses complement each individual sculpture.
Yanhui Xu creates intricate three-dimensional wire sculptures. Drawing on traditional Chinese weaving techniques, she has adapted these methods to metal thread, crocheting and looping wire into sculptural forms that can take hundreds of hours to complete. Watching her hands crochet fine wire into something so elaborate was mesmerising.
Around the Island
Beyond our table in ‘An Atelier Alive’, we spent time visiting the other exhibitions spaces around San Giorgio Maggiore, each building and garden holding its own world of craft.
The exhibition space titled ‘A Rooted Ascent’ was one of our favourites, designed as a homage to natural materials it displays a selection of woodworks and woven fibre pieces. We found a great number of pieces in this exhibit that shared our values of working alongside nature. Shogo Watari's sculpture “Blossom Ring XIV” is made from Cypress, one of the ingredients we use in our Seymour fragrance. It was inspired by the growth patterns of plants and crafted using a bentwood technique. We also loved Heechan Kim's sculpture “#20” which used copper wire to hold together strips of maple wood, drawing a connection between the body and landscape.
Another exhibition space that was a particular highlight was ‘A Feast of Light’. It was here that we saw Hitomi Hosono's porcelain bowls carved intricately with botanicals that connect her life in England with her Japanese heritage.
Reflections On Our Time
Surrounded by makers working at this level, we were reminded of just how much time and attention sits behind every finished object. Spending time among people who share our appreciation of craft, natural materials, and design was a reminder of how special our own practices are. We left San Giorgio Maggiore grateful to have shared a space among such company, and carrying a continued appreciation for the hands behind the object around us. We look forward to the next Homo Faber Biennial in 2028.