The Museum of Craftsmanship from Valle d’Aosta - from #LRCrafts - DIY Passion: if you can think it, you can make it by Rici86.
Leggi in italianoLast Summer we visited the castle of Fenis, in Valle d’Aosta.
A lovely place I totally recommend! But I’m not here to talk about that imposing fortress. I’m here for a museum close by.
After the visit to the castle, we strolled around the village and found about a craftsmanship museum. We were curious and excited, but the opening was scheduled for… the following week! Such a pity we couldn’t visit it! I’ve thought about it for a year, from time to time, wishing I could see which marvels were on display there. I never visited a museum dedicated to crafts, with not only pieces from the past, but a deep connection with the present. Maybe you remember our visit sometime back to a special boutique in the same region, so you know what I mean.
Well, this year we came back to Valle d’Aosta and we decided our first stop would be Fenis again to finally visit the MAV – Museo dell’Artigianato Valdostano di tradizione.
This museum is deeply linked to the boutique we visited in Courmayeur a couple of years ago. The same Valdostan Institute of Traditional Handcraft is responsible for both.
On the official website, it’s described as “a pathway for the analysis of craft heritage“. It’s divided into sections: “Memory”, “Matter”, “Form”, “Gesture” and “Avant-garde”.
The first section let us dive into the history of craftsmanship in Valle d’Aosta through many objects from the past. We saw keys, animal figures, boxes, little statues, liturgical pieces, inkpots, cribs, spinning wheels, scissors, distaffs, cups, baskets, molds for butter, obviously examples of “Grolla” (if you don’t know about them, we got you covered).
The items were organised by type and material, and thanks to their display and the lights, we were able to have a taste of what it was like when those object were made and used. I see why they called this first part “Memory”.
If the first part is somehow what you expect from a museum, at least in Italy, the second section about “Matter” was less traditional, and we loved it!
Here you could not only look at items, but also touch them. They encourage you! From fibers to thread to fabric, I loved the first display that let us see, feel and touch the process needed to go from natural elements to clothing.
There was also a tiny room with a game: we had a few tree trunks standing there like a forest and we had to recognize the different kinds of woods. We had little samples with the name of the three that we had to match with their tree. Not so easy as it sounds, but we made just one mistake! Nowadays managing raw materials it’s not common, so I really like when I’m reminded of how little we touch and recognize matter and tools to work them.
Gong on, we met the section about “Form”.
We were greeted by a huge display of wooden roosters, that reminded us of hen we talked about them with Ombretta in the Boutique in Courmayeur. There, we saw other wonderful objects on display, organised by shape, obviously.
In ancient times, each shape had a purpose, if makers chose a particular shape for an item it was never by chance. Functionality first. But, well, aesthetics was also deeply present. Just look at the wonderful carvings made with the traditional knife technique… Astounding!
And the section about “Gesture”, another place where I could stay for hours. Indeed, you’d need time to appreciate all the tools on display.
This was the section dedicated to all the talented artisans who made the numerous objects we had seen earlier. Not just their tools, but also the recreations of their workshops. There was the lathe turner, the weaver, the carver, the sculptor…
As you can imagine, I could have stayed for hours just staring at the loom. Really a piece of ancient engineering!
I wonder how many nowadays would know how to use such tools, operate those ancient machines, what purpose had each part… We are so used to machine-made objects that we don’t think enough how hard it is to make something, how time-consuming. Of all the skills, practice and knowledge required to create.
Finally, we reached the “Avant-garde”. A peculiarity of this museum and of the craftsmanship of Valle d’Aosta is that tradition still lives nowadays.
We still have artisans and artists making crafts without mechanisation. Using their skills and artistic taste to make something unique, something that carries centuries of tradition and knowledge, but also carries a modern sense of things.
Sometimes a handmade craft is not valued as it should be. People compare cheap prices for machine-made objects and for the products of able artisans. But this is not the only thing to compare. Think about time, skills, and love that got into the handmade piece. Somebody thought about it at lenght, took care and time in each making step. Everyone should try and make something with his hands, just to know what it means.
That’s what I liked about the MAV – Museo dell’Artigianato Valdostano di tradizione. While it displayed lovely pieces, it also let me think deeply. It left me something non-physical to bring back home.
It reminded me that somebody in our fast machine-driven modern world still cares about time, craft, hand-work, care, skill. There are still people who know how to make things. We should value them more.
MAV – Museo dell’Artigianato Valdostano di tradizione
Chez Sapin Hamlet, 86, 11020 Fénis AO
By Institut Valdôtain de l’Artisanat de Tradition
