Car makers seem to be going all-in on digital at the moment, drizzling AI tech all over cars and using similar systems to streamline their factories. However, Mazda - as is so often the case - is doing something a little different. It’s celebrating human cratspersonship and has linked up with Homo Faber to do so.
What’s Homo Faber?
Homo Faber is an Italian-based festival and general arts and crafts movement that celebrates the best that human beings, rather than machines, can make. The emphasis is on hand-made and bespoke items, ranging from fabrics to jewellery to ornaments and more.
What’s Mazda doing with all this?
According to Mazda, the brand’s: “involvement in Homo Faber centres on the travel motif of human life and reflects the brand's deep reverence for tradition paired with an innovative design approach. Known for its 'Crafted in Japan' philosophy, Mazda has, for over a century, showcased its Takumi artisans' dedication to perfection and the human touch in car craftsmanship.”
Basically what Mazda is saying is that AI is all well and good, but you can’t beat a pair of human hands and a human brain if you want to create something beautiful, meaningful, and long-lasting. The inference is, of course, that Mazda makes things like that when it makes its cars, relying on the intelligence and expertise of real human craftspeople to come up with the style and substance of its vehicles.
So, what’s happening at the Homo Faber show?
Mazda’s idea is that visitors to the show can be encouraged not merely to look but to get involved and actually make a souvenir of their visit.
So, one example is that visitors can make their own beautifully bound journal in which they can record their memories of their visit, working with boutique atelier Antica Legatoria Ofer, which is located in Padua and Venice and specialises in the bookbinding techniques of the abbeys of Santa Giustina and Praglia as well as the art of marbling papers in Western, Japanese, and Turkish styles.
A personalised journal sounds nice…
Oh, there’s more. Mazda will also be helping visitors to make their own maps and pocket globes, working with Leonardo Frigo - a passionate, innovative, and creative person who combines his love for music with his work restoring stone and wood. For over a decade, he has been crafting painted string instruments that have garnered worldwide acclaim. At Homo Faber he’ll be helping guests with their map-printing skills.
Anything else?
As well as making their own things, Mazda will also be showing Homo Faber visitors a proper work of art - created by Mazda’s own specialist ‘Takumi’ craftspeople, the “Momentum" sculpture is meant to evoke: “motion and emotion even at standstill. It captures an explosive energy that is charged in a silent sophisticated form. The artistic expression is then translated into the automotive design.”