Over the past five months, Materahub has had the privilege of guiding ten talented European craft practitioners through an intensive online training program as part of the Craftwork 4 All project. This unique 20-hour journey was designed to prepare five artistic duos for their upcoming live residencies in Matera, bridging the gap between artistic vision and social impact.
The overarching concept of our Italian residencies is profound: scars, wounds, stigmas and traumas must be repaired and cared for through the power of craft. Our mission was to help these artists translate this philosophy into concrete, socially engaged workflows before they set foot in their host organisations.
The methodology: affective disruption and the “Living CPC”
To prepare the artists for sensitive environments, we introduced the “Break-in” mindset in order to challenge the artists to view their residencies not merely as a time to produce objects, but as a strategic “affective disruption”, a gentle way to disrupt daily routines and re-enchant the relationship between people and their environments.
Instead of relying on rigid bureaucratic documents, the artists used the Creative Project Canvas (CPC) as a “living creative companion”. Over five sessions, moving through Immersion, Exploration, Ideation, Definition and Communication, they used the CPC to balance their creative ambitions with strict realities like drying times, emotional mediation and logistical constraints.
Two environments, one shared goal: care
To foster peer-to-peer problem-solving, we grouped the duos into host-specific “mastermind hubs”, allowing them to cross-pollinate ideas and tackle shared barriers together.
- Mending matter: the Komen Italia Hub (sculpting, November 2026)
Two duos will enter the Breast Cancer Prevention Center at Matera’s hospital. Their challenge is to integrate the care of the body with the care of the soul, transforming illness into a symbol of resilience.
- Maja Kotar (Slovenia) & Foteini Eirini Koromanidi (Netherlands) will lead a gentle Kintsugi workshop. As they beautifully expressed during the training: “Working in Matera, a town shaped by time and renewal, we will bring ceramic pieces from our individual practices and intentionally break them on site… The workshop offers a non-verbal space to reconnect with the inner strength and reframe bodies marked by illness as resilient and whole.”
- Saša Martinović Kunović (Croatia) & Sasha Chapliy (Ukraine) will focus on mosaics and musical ceramics, guiding patients to sketch words like “M(i)A TER(R)A, MY BODY” to inspire the collective artworks.
- Mending minds: the Contatto Hub (textiles, April 2027)
Three duos will work within the Contatto Social Cooperative, using visible mending, patchwork and upcycling to empower ex-inmates and youth.
- Maria Štranekova (Slovakia) & Maja Božović Bažik (Serbia) designed the jOURnals project, stating: “As a creative duo we want to step out of conventional daily work routine and experience new situations, where together in a new environment we can create, heal, connect and reset.”
- Dalia Rodriguez (Spain) & Teresa Sofia Eustáquio Carvalheira (Netherlands) will run Patch Works, an initiative aimed at “fostering self-empowerment and resilience-building processes through self-determination exploration and the expansion of creative skills” using inherited fabrics.
- Viktoria Jevlas (Estonia) & Danute Anilēna (Latvia) will bring their expertise in style advising and upcycling to the cooperative.
The final pitch: a reality check
The training culminated in a live pitch session directly to the host organisation representatives, Carla (Komen Italia) and Veronica Scardillo (Contatto). The artists confidently presented their 15-minute narrative pitches, outlining not just their artistic ideas, but their short-term trade-offs and the long-term legacies they intend to leave behind.
With the theoretical foundations firmly in place, the stage is set. We look forward to welcoming these incredible makers to Matera in November 2026 and April 2027 to see their “affective disruptions” come to life!
