This powerful love letter to handcrafted art takes the reader to Europe's most illustrious, and in many cases endangered, decorative arts workshops to show how artisans continue to maintain the highest standards of centuries-old craftsmanship and creativity. Since the Renaissance, workshops were established as places where European artists worked and taught their crafts. Centuries later, most of these spaces have disappeared, but a few continue to produce some of the world's most celebrated and coveted objects in the areas of glass, ceramics, wrought iron, textiles, bookbinding, mosaic, wood panelling and more. John Whelan and Oskar Proctor travelled throughout Europe to document these important spaces, both to celebrate them and to preserve their vanishing ideals. Ranging from the well-known to the unknown, this volume takes the reader to dozens of workshops in Austria, England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. Sumptuous double-page spreads feature attractive photographs, and fascinating background texts tell their stories. Shedding light on their collective value as well as their individual experience, this book offers both a historical assessment of how the workshops have been shaped by modern forces, as well as a clear call for their preservation.

Publisher: Prestel