WBB x Savoir-Faire Project by Roman Jehanno : artisans at work

Roman Jehanno is a talented French photographer born in 1986. Since 2013, he’s been travelling the world to meet the standard bearers of global craftsmanship. After graduating from the Paris  École des Gobelins in 2008, he spent several years searching for the subject matter that would materialize his passion for human savoir-faire, culminating in his Le Coeur des hommes à l’ouvrage series which earned him the Hasselblad Masters Award in 2014. For the subsequent Hasselblad Masters Vol. 4 Evolve book, made in collaboration with the 12 winners of the 2014 edition, he further honed his craft by starting this striking series of portraits of craftsmen. The Savoir-Faire project was born.

From South Africa to Java, from the American West to Japan, Lapland and Peru, Roman got the chance to witness all the amazing things humans could make with nothing but their two hands, hard work and patience. His wide panel of subjects ranges from miners, ceramists and sculptors to basket makers, jewelers, leatherworkers… and bartenders. Indeed, between 2017 and 2019, Roman Jehanno and World’s Best Bars got the chance to collaborate on the creation of original content in the best cocktail bars in the world, in a two-year adventure that took them to London, New York City, Paris, Tokyo and Singapore. Roman took the time during each shoot to snap beautiful portraits of the people behind the bar – whom he deems true artisans of flavor, working each day to create incredible tasting experiences for their customers – for his project.

This series on craftsmanship at the dawn of the 21st century now has over 300 portraits. The best among them will be compiled in a book scheduled to be released in 2021.

We’ve been meaning tell you about this exciting project for a while. Today, with the global hospitality community looking at the hardest times it’s ever had to face, we want to do what little is within our power to support and inspire. By putting Roman’s brilliant work out in the world, our goal is to invite you into our universe, and to remind you that behind all these bars closed during lockdown, there are passionate men and women with true savoir-faire. Every couple of days for the next few weeks, we will be sharing Roman’s artistic portraits on our Instagram, giving these stellar bartenders the chance to share their story (and a few tips!) with all of you.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to put out a message of hope and resilience. In these troubling times, more than ever, we need to step up and show that we’re there for one another in any little way we can. Reach out to your favorite local venues and bartenders, who have made it their life’s work to foster connections between people each day until now. Let them know they’re in your thoughts, and that you’re looking forward to sharing good times with them again as soon as things get better. Give them a shout out on your social media. Here’s to hoping they can be back doing what they love most soon, and we can all leave social distancing behind to celebrate social interacting once again.