The Czech republic is the Pays d’Honneur for this biennial event. De Mains De Maîtres is dedicated to excellence in craftsmanship, creativity, and the profound artistry of making things by hand.


This, the 5th edition of the biennale, has grown into one of the most prestigious applied Art and Design events in the Greater Region. De Mains de Maîtres was founded in 2016 under the patronage of Their Royal Highnesses, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.  The mission is to honour craftsmanship and give visibility to those who shape our world with their hands.

In this conversation we will discuss how craftsmanship connects heritage, identity, sustainability, and emotional well-being across generations. It is linked to the materials around us, the conversations and subversions of the day, the need to slow down and connect with our world through our hands and our heads.

Artistry of this level is worth elevating, celebrating, respecting and encouraging through our educational system - another theme of the conversation.

This year hosts Czechia as the Pays d’Honneur, bringing centuries of glassmaking, ceramics, puppetry and design heritage to Luxembourg.

My guests this week are:

- Her Excellency, Ambassador Barbara Karpetová, who has been instrumental in coordinating Czechia’s participation.
- Tom Wirion, Director General of the Chambre des Métiers.
- Embroidery artist Yanis Miltgen, whose sculptural textile work has gained international acclaim.
- Ceramicist Ellen van der Woude, whose work is influenced by nature, harmony and emotional resonance.

Ambassador Barbara Karpetová speaks so eloquently about the changing borders and names of her homeland, and how, throughout this, the language of the artists developed its own conversation with people. The humour that can be spotted in artisans’ work through generations of history; the means to remain resilient through periods of political repression. Craft can hold the history and identity of a nation’s people.

Her Excellency also highlighted the psychological importance of making: the sense of satisfaction in producing something from beginning to end, and the power of craft to reconnect us with our own creativity which is so easily lost in an era of screens and speed.

Ambassador Barbara also spoke about the rich material landscape of ‘Bohemia’ which easily allowed the arts of certain genres to flourish, such as glass-making.

On the Luxembourg side, Tom Wirion, Director General of the Chambre des Métiers, underscored how essential the craft sector is to the country’s cultural landscape.

Tom noted that one of the greatest challenges remains perception: encouraging young people (and parents) to view skilled trades as a stable, innovative, and rewarding career path.

“Buying a crafted object,” he explained, “means investing in a gesture, not just a product.” His vision is to make artisans visible, valued, and actively supported through new pathways, partnerships, and gallery collaborations.  And naturally the educational system has to allow this subject to shine more too.

Ceramic artist Ellen van der Woude, formerly a lawyer, turned to ceramics after personal loss and found profound therapeutic power in clay. Her sculptures embrace movement, tension, harmony, and imperfection: an homage to nature’s organic balance. For this edition, she presents three works inspired by the transition from winter to spring, reminding us that renewal follows even the longest winters.  Ellen’s own confidence in realising that she was indeed an artist only settled once she won the Jury Prize in the first edition of De Mains de Maîtres. She went on to win numerous other awards since. Yanis Miltgen, at just 24 years, found embroidery at the age of 15. Like Ellen, he found working with his hands and mind to be therapy as he had panic attacks at school.
Yanis has won the most prestigious embroidery prize (just last week in London); the Hand & Lock Prize. He also won “Les de(ux) mains” Prize from the Comité Colbert (which is ‘the voice of luxury in France).

Yanis has brought embroidery to an entirely new level of textile sculptural artistry, merging embroidery with metal, silicone, and reclaimed materials. His pieces, often requiring hundreds of hours, push the boundaries of what textile art can be: scientific in process, poetic in effect.

We are reminded at the end by Ambassador Karpetová that even we, as customers, continue this line of artisan appreciation, as we observe the flow of an artists hands’ into our homes, or gifting to a loved one. The continuity of time and art, heritage and thought, all combined. These are the things of divine creation which we can contemplate.

To stand amongst these curated pieces, visit De Mains De Maîtres 20th to 23rd of November, 10am to 6.30pm, no entrance fee at 19 Avenue de la Liberté.

Useful Links
https://www.demainsdemaitres.lu/en/

Czech Embassy
• Website: https://mzv.gov.cz/luxembourg
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmbassadeTchequeLuxembourg/

Tom Wirion – Chambre des Métiers
• https://www.cdm.lu
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-wirion/

Yanis Miltgen
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miltgen_design/?hl=en

Ellen van der Woude
• Website: http://www.ellenvanderwoude.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenvanderwoude/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madebyEF/