Artisans of Now

We always think the goodbye is the end. Then, months later, someone knocks on the door again.

Every return catches us a little off guard. Not because we expect people to come back, but because it quietly tells us that something stayed with them after they left. Something we could never have planned or promised.

Reading your words moved us deeply. Not because they are full of praise, but because they made us feel seen in the smallest, most human parts of what we try to do: welcoming people, sharing ourselves and our home, creating a safe, creative space where strangers can simply be together without the need to put on any mask.

We don’t think we’ll ever get used to seeing familiar faces come back. And honestly, we hope we never do.

Thank you, dear ❤️

By the end of the week, the tables no longer belong to us. They become a landscape of their own, covered with wall prototypes, test panels, bowls of earth and dozens of small discoveries made by many different hands.

This is how we spent our days during our last workshop “From Soil to Surface: The Living Skin of Architecture”, guided by designer and material researcher Isabella Breda .

We have never been interested in teaching from a distance. We like everyone close enough to ask one more question, to notice the smallest change in a mixture, to sit together for coffee under the olive trees and cypresses, or to keep working long after dinner simply because no one feels like stopping yet.

This week we worked with soils collected across Italy: an ivory clay and a cool umber earth gathered here in our land, a brick-red earth from Sardinia, a warm brown ochre from Veneto, and a blue-grey clay from Tuscany.

Sometimes we look at these tables at the end of the day and realise they resemble something more than a workshop. They look like a place where people felt comfortable enough to slow down, make mistakes, help one another, and quietly fall in love with a material that has been beneath our feet all along.

Mi piace l’idea perché racconta un gesto semplice che in realtà è antichissimo. Io la scriverei così, con il vostro tono:

Some of the oldest decorations are also the simplest.

A fresh olive leaf is gently pressed into the still-wet clay plaster, just enough for every vein and edge to leave its mark. Then it is carefully lifted away, revealing an imprint that feels both delicate and deeply rooted.

There is no pigment, no carving, no mould. Just the meeting of a living plant and a material taken from the earth.

For centuries, leaves, grasses and branches have found their way into earthen walls, carrying traces of the surrounding landscape into architecture. Each imprint is unique because no two leaves are ever the same, and no gesture can be repeated exactly.

We love this technique because it reminds us that decoration doesn’t always mean adding something. Sometimes, it is simply about allowing nature to leave its own signature behind.

“From soil to surface: the living skin of Architecture” with Isabella Breda

artisansofnow

We often struggle to find the right words for what these days become. We’re grateful when someone else finds them, and when their words remind us that we shared something meaningful together.

A handful of earth holds centuries of knowledge.

Every morning begins with observation.

Before moving forward, we pause to understand what happened overnight.

Together with Isabella Breda , we gathered around the samples created the previous day, studying how each earth had dried, settled and transformed. Changes in colour, texture, cohesion and surface are not imperfections to correct, but information to read. They reveal how different soils, aggregates and proportions behave over time, teaching us to work with the material rather than imposing our will upon it.

In earthen architecture, making starts with listening. Every surface tells the story of the earth it came from.

The workshop table is where transformation quietly begins.
Earth becomes plaster.
Plaster becomes surface.
Surface becomes architecture.

And somewhere along the way, we are transformed too.

“From soil to surface: the living skin of Architecture” with Isabella Breda

📷 Giulia Ferraris
handmadeculture

“From Soil to Surface: The living Skin of Architecture”

Date: 20 July 2026 - 26 July 2026

Location: near Rome, Italy

In a landscape where soil becomes matter and matter becomes surface, we invite you to slow down and join a five-day and six-night immersive journey into the art of earth-based wall decoration with the talented Architecht and Artist Isabella Breda

This course is a unique hands-on experience dedicated to the creation of textured, tactile surfaces using foraged clay, stones, sand and different natural fibres.

We will learn how to recognise and collect clay from the land, prepare it, and transform it into workable mixtures with different grain sizes, colours and fibres.

Participants will work with the spatula and handmade tools to apply earth plasters on panels, creating textures, patterns, and sculptural relief surfaces through gesture, pressure, impression, engraving, and raised drawing. Each participant will develop a personal surface language, working on samples that leave space for interpretation and creative freedom.

The panels created during the course can become decorative artworks, design elements, or the starting point for future projects in wall decoration or bio-architecture.

With shared meals, a family atmosphere, and time dedicated to rest and connection, you will be part of a small community of makers.

This journey is guided by architect and artist Isabella Breda , who transformed her love for clay and natural materials into a life practice showing how passion can turn what we study into a true vocation.

If you wish to join, you’ll find all the info on our website ➡️ www.artisansofnow.com or link in bio
Or get in touch ➡️ [email protected] or DM us.

*limited to 10 participants

Looking forward to welcoming you in our community!

With love,
Artisans of Now

A collection of surfaces, each carrying the memory of a different landscape.

These earthen relief panels were created by the participants of our latest workshop, From Soil to Surface: The Living Skin of Architecture, guided by the inspiring Isabella Breda.

Using raw earth gathered from different regions of Italy, each participant explored the unique character of every soil: its colour, granulometry and mineral composition. By working with different aggregates and textures, they discovered how every place speaks its own material language.

No two panels are alike. Each one is the result of observation, experimentation and a deeply personal dialogue with the earth.

For us, learning begins by listening to the material. The soil already holds its own intelligence; our role is simply to reveal it with care.

Our next edition will take place at the end of September. If you would like to join us on this journey, you can find all the information through the link in our bio or applying at [email protected]