Loewe Foundation Craft Prize

The Loewe Foundation Craft Prize is the most highly endowed and most important prize for arts and crafts worldwide. It covers all areas and materials. For the last 7th competition there had been 3900 entries. The eighth edition of this international award for outstanding craftsmanship has now been launched.

“The Loewe Foundation seeks to recognize uniquely talented artisans whose artistic vision and will to innovate set new standards for the future of craft. The Prize for the winning entry is 50,000 euros. The shortlisted and winning works will feature in the exhibition and accompanying catalogue in Madrid in Spring 2025.”

Applications are still possible until 30 October 2024. All information and application documents at craftprize.loewe.com Below is a look back at the 2024 winners.

Winners of the Loewe Craft Prize 2024

Andrés Anza from Mexico has won the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2024, endowed with 50,000 euros. His work with the philosophical title I only know what I have seen is a 150 cm high ceramic in the shape of a totem pole and conjures both plant and animal forms. The amorphous quality is reinforced by small spikes on the surface. ” Assembled in five parts, the work is constructed from refractory clay and features a dynamic composition which appears to twist, turn and fold in on itself”, the explanatory statement reads. To achieve an even surface, acrylic paint was applied after firing. The resulting monochrome surface emphasizes the effect of light and shadow on the highly structured surface.

Loewe Foundation Craftprize 2024, Andrés Anza, Mexico, I only know what I have seen, 2023. ceramic, 45 x 40 x 150 cm.

The jury also awarded special mentions to Miki Asai, Japan, for her jewelry series Still Life, to Emmanuel Boos, France, for his coffee table Comme un lego and to Heechan Kim for the wooden sculpture #16.

Miki Asai has taking inspiration from still-life paintings as a metaphor for daily life, miniature vessels form the basis of these three sculptural rings. The body of each vessel is formed from paper, and the surfaces are variously treated with tiny fragments of crushed eggshell, pressed to create the illusion of cracked glazing and mosaicked with seashell to add iridescence. Layers of mineral pigment are then applied to create variations in colour before the vessels are mounted onto hollowed-out wooden blocks. The surface of the wood is also treated using these materials and techniques. The rings are finished using kashu-urushi, a type of lacquer sourced from cashew trees, sanded to create a smooth finish.

Miki Asai, Japan, Still Life, 2023. Wood, paper, kashu, eggshell, seashell and mineral pigment, various dimensions.

Emmanuel Boos has combined functionality with fragility in the coffee table crafted from 98 hollow bricks. Held in place without the use of glue, each brick can be individually lifted from the structure. A sense of playfulness is contrasted with the deep and muted colour palette of the bricks, which have been slip-cast from porcelain and fired with a Tenmoku-glaze. Plaster moulds were used to cast each brick, punched with two holes so that they can be held in place with dowels. The tabletop sits on five sturdier bricks which are also built from porcelain, but using the slab method with an inner wall for strength.

Emmanuel Boos, France, coffee table Comme un lego, 2023. Porcelain, tenmoku black and wood, 6 x 176 x 38 cm.

The sculptural vessel of Heechan Kim demonstrates a masterful control of material and is the culmination of the artist’s desire to create a new form. Using traditional wood-bending techniques most often seen in boat-making, thinly planed strips of ash have been soaked in water and manipulated using a hot iron, before being sanded and stitched together with thin copper wire. The evolution of the form is guided by intuition; the result is a unique organic structure with a continuously smooth surface, and channels which flow through to a large central chamber.