Academy

The university of skilled hands

As a new center of craftsmanship, the House of Manus Academy trains both head and hand and opens up alternative career opportunities for outstanding artisans and capable leaders of tomorrow.

Teaching and learning

Via events around the world, online and, in future, at our planned Switzerland campus, House of Manus Academy is establishing a platform for discourse that will engage with the future of artisan manufacturing and open up alternative career opportunities for both young people and professionals. By training both head and hand, this university of skilled hands will help to develop tomorrow’s outstanding craftspeople and industry leaders.

Offer

The House of Manus Academy brings together what was once intrinsically linked — drafting and making, design and craft — and the business skills required to ensure they add up to a successful way of life.

Dual education system

Craftsmanship has a strong tradition in Switzerland, where it is backed by a long-established dual education model that blends apprenticeships with further schooling. Our academy opens up that model to a global elite of would-be artisans — both at our Swiss campus and with partner institutions and companies around the world.

Expanded curriculum

The House of Manus Academy will offer a broad-based curriculum covering everything from design know-how to the full spectrum of management and marketing skills: Be it business strategy development, communications, art history or design principles, students will acquire all the capabilities they need in addition to their craft in order to develop as successful makers.

Grand tour

With House of Manus Academy and its network, tomorrow’s outstanding artisans will benefit from an educational “grand tour” of the world’s leading artisan businesses. This rich and varied global journey will produce graduates with vision and cosmopolitan attitudes who have learned from the best in their field.

Craft as experience

The tuition will be complemented by short, intensive teaching formats such as summer schools, workshops, conferences and craft safaris. These will allow ambitious craftspeople and executives from other sectors to exchange ideas, gain inspiration and pick up valuable industry insights at international craft hubs.

We are shaping the future of arts and crafts

Discourse platform

Via publications such as the annual International Craft Report, the Academy drives the public debate around the future of artisan manufacturing and will be in the vanguard of a movement that brings together head and hand in highly talented generalists.

Leading organization & pioneer

As an umbrella organization the House of Manus Academy connects educational platforms, applied arts schools, design schools, artist-in-residence programmes and artisan manufacturers and provides practical support — via joint fundraising, combined reach and active dialogue, for instance.

International Craft Forum

Our regular events and discussion forums, such as the annual International Craft Forum, will put leading creatives together with decision-makers from artisan manufacturers and luxury firms, with the aim of actively shaping the future of craft.

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“Architects, sculptors, painters — we must all turn back to craftsmanship!”

Walter Gropius