Curated by the "Arti e Mestieri" Research Centre

What do artistic crafts represent in our societies? This volume brings together the results of an extensive research on the “intelligence of the hand”.

This volume brings together the results of a research aimed at providing a new definition of the artistic crafts. The research was presented to the public during the International Convention "The Intelligence of the Hand. Artistic Crafts: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" held in Milan on June 8th, 2000.

The book was written by Paolo Colombo with contributions from Fabio Iannuzzi, Damiano Palano, Vittorio Emanuele Parsi and Anna Veronelli, and contains an appendix with an extensive bibliography.

The essays define the complex universe of the "métiers d’art" from many standpoints. Above all, they outline how artistic crafts have developed through the ages, and the links between the arts and the crafts. The context in which the master artisans operate is defined also through the analysis of their interactions with local institutions and organisations.