Objects of Note | Renaissance Limoges Enamels

Before the solitary artist, there were the great workshops: regrouping of skill where goldsmiths, enamellers, founders, glassmakers, and sculptors worked together to lift the world beyond itself. Their creations remind us that beauty is not just a luxury but a form of knowledge. Few objects express this more eloquently than Renaissance Limoges enamels, writes Laura Kugel.

In the history of British silversmithing, Asprey is at a confluence: a maker of fine domestic silver fit for everyday use, a creator of grand spectacle trophies and emblems, and a bespoke silversmith capable of crafting almost anything for a discerning client.  

A hub for ceramics since the Middle Ages, the modern day artisans of this town in Emilia-Romagna honour the traditions of the past while innovating for the future.

Working from her Brooklyn studio, Beth Katleman casts and assembles porcelain objects into theatrical reliefs that blend Rococo detail with pop culture debris. Her work is precise, subversive and never quite what it seems.

The desirability and mysticism of Imperial Jadeite – the rarest form of Jade – endures through cycles of taste and speculation. Its global market, long centred in Hong Kong, reflects both cultural reverence and modern investment for a stone of exceptional quality and beauty. In conversation with Asprey, one of the foremost British Maisons working with Imperial Jadeite, Cabana explores the history of this extraordinary stone.

Annemarieke Kloosterhof is celebrated for her intricate paper-craft creations which have graced film and TV sets (like Bridgerton), museum displays, and major fashion campaigns. To celebrate Leighton House's 100th anniversary as a public museum, her latest commission 'Ghost Objects: Summoning Leighton’s Lost Collection', reimagines four long-lost artifacts from Frederic Leighton’s collection as life-sized paper sculptures.

Less than 300m from Serge Gainsbourg’s Parisian home stands Samuel Mazy’s Cabinet of Porcelaine: an imaginary garden where only the scent of flowers is missing. Porcelain florists represent centuries of tradition and craftsmanship know-how – they first appeared in the 1740s at the Manufacture de Vincennes – but when Samuel opened his cabinet in 2001, few believed it would survive. Samuel followed his intuition, took the risk, and 24 years later the Cabinet is a mandatory stop for porcelain enthusiasts and renewed interior designers alike.

From selecting the right tree to carving the base and stretching the hide, every traditional step of drum-making is meticulously followed in Gitega, the beating heart of Burundi’s ancient ingoma culture. Oscar Nshimirimana, the chief of the drummers, shares his craft with Cabana.

High up amid the mountains of Peru, the last children of the Incas weave together heritage and meaning, shadow and light. Rebeca Vaisman and Antonio Sorrentino capture their uniquely traditional craft processes and ways of life for Cabana Magazine Issue 24.

The once thriving and lively world of bell casting has fallen almost silent in this modern age, finds art historian and broadcaster James Fox, the author of Craftland. Yet one mighty foundry still rings out, loud and clear: John Taylor & Co. in Loughborough.

Pichvai painting, born centuries ago in Rajasthan, combines divine allegory, miniatures, and artisan mastery—once nearly lost, now beautifully revived after years of decline.

In his French studio, Geoffrey Luff revives Bernard Palissy’s ceramic art using roadkill and molds. His detailed, lifelike creations blend nature, science, and craftsmanship with remarkable precision and personal dedication.