Four Leaf Wood Shop first opened its doors in 2015, at the impulse of Jack Gérard and Geneviève Barrere. In their Ojaj, California workshop, these two young Americans create and produce wooden kitchen utensils – mainly spoons, but also spatulas and knives – using artisanal techniques.
Aidan Mackinnon threw himself into knife making convinced that quality cutlery enhances any culinary experience. “Cooking is one of life’s great joys and knives are often our primary interaction between ourselves and our food.” In his shop in Melbourne, Australia, he lovingly forges high quality knives so that they can be used and passed on to generations of cooks.
Making a traditional Basque makhila, an elegant and precious walking stick, requires an ancestral know-how that the Atelier Alberdi, based in Irun, has been one of the rare workshops to continue to use and develop for generations. A symbol of the Basque culture, the makhila is a walking partner for life and is usually gifted as a sign of respect. But it also serves for protection, as in the shaft hides a blade: a self-defense option that was very popular in the 17th century!
Veló by Zin was born from the encounter of two architects, Niccolo Di Paola and Zaida Mañas. In 2013, their shared wish to create and make shoes using a traditional process pushed them to establish their own workshop in the El Born neighborhood of Barcelona.
In her Kopavogur workshop near Reykjavik, Nadine Martin has been handmaking glass pearls since 2007, transforming them into jewelry or carefully incorporating them into everyday objects. She discovered glass working early on while traveling in her home country of France, and was immediately attracted to the craft that continues to fascinate her today.
Elizabeth Gleeson is American and passionate about producing ethical and artisanal fabrics. She started URSA Textile in 2013 in an effort to create quality, beautiful, and functional products, while developing durable partnerships with traditional workshops in Argentina.
Herin Hong chose to associate Japanese techniques to her taste for simplicity in the creation of her handmade leather accessories. She was born in Seoul, but it’s in London that she started Mollum Vellum in 2015, where she develops mostly small leatherwork defined by her patient and careful craftsmanship.
Charlotte von Poehl’s work is informed by the history of design and by minimal art; it oscillates between art and life, between usefulness and aesthetics, while questioning the space, the lighting and the architecture of the room it occupies. The piece she has created in collaboration with Woven Studio for the exhibition entitled “Patchworks” at the Skissernas Museum – Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art eloquently testifies to how open her practice is to other fields of creation.
After following in Paris a degree in fashion design and another one in textile work and embroidery, Gabrielle Legall, originally from Bretagne, left the French capital in 2016 for Nantes to start her brand Processus: minimal, small batch ready-to-wear that mixes the codes of streetwear and traditional elegance through the use of recycled parachutes and paragliders.
Basket weaving is one of the oldest crafts in the world, and yet Esmé Hofman is one of the rare artisans to master and perpetuate the art of braiding plant fibers together to make objects, furniture, or even accessories more refined than the next.
