Loewe Is Pleased To Announce The Winner And Special Mentions Of The 2024 Edition Of The Loewe Foundation Craft Prize
LOEWE is pleased to announce that the winner of the 2024 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize is Andrés Anza (b. 1991, Mexico), awarded for his work ‘I only know what I have seen’, 2023. Anza was chosen from 30 finalists by a distinguished jury composed of leading figures from the worlds of design, architecture, journalism, criticism, and museum curatorship, including Magdalene Odundo, Minsuk Cho, Olivier Gabet, and Abraham Thomas.
This year’s edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize presents a selection of works that feature organic and biomorphic forms that push materials to their physical limits. Many of the works repurpose found or recycled materials and there is a focus on the elevation and transformation of the everyday. All 30 of the shortlisted works will be exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, from 15 May until 9, 2024. The exhibition will also be available to view online and documented through an exhibition catalog.
Andrés’ life-size ceramic sculpture, ‘I only know what I have seen’, has an arresting and almost human presence in the exhibition. Its anthropomorphic form – allowing it to seem at once figurative and abstract – is intricately constructed using thousands of individual ceramic protrusions. These tiny spikes make up five puzzle pieces, which have been assembled with almost architectural intention and precision.
The jury observed that this work defies time and cultural context, drawing upon ancient, archaeological forms but also tracing a post-digital aesthetic that sees ceramics absorbing the most defining influences of our time.
The Jury also agreed upon three special mentions:
Miki Asai (b.1988, Japan) for her work, ‘Still life’, 2023. Formed of three sculptural rings, each one topped with exquisitely crafted miniature vessels, this work was commended by the jury for its unexpected combination of intricacy and monumentality. The jury noted Asai’s telescopic use of shape as well as her mastery of both lacquer and eggshell techniques.
Emmanuel Boos (b.1969, France) for his work, ‘Coffee Table ‘Comme un lego’’, 2023. This coffee table, crafted using 98 hollow porcelain bricks, delighted the jury with its skill, precision, and discipline. Its playful construction belies a world of hidden fragility, and its moveable bricks gently disrupt expectations around utilitarian objects.
Heechan Kim (b.1982, Republic of Korea), for his work, ‘#16’, 2023. This large sculptural vessel was chosen for the ways in which Kim creates a new language in contemporary geometry and architectural design. Kim’s innovative use of materials and construction methods – he has used a traditional boat-making technique, with ash and copper wire – results in a form which allows the viewer’s gaze to travel through the inner and outer space of the vessel’s chamber.
The 30 finalists were selected in February 2024 by a panel of experts and worked across a range of mediums including ceramics, woodwork, textiles, leather, glass, metal, jewelry, and lacquer. They represent 16 countries and regions from around the world and their entries were chosen from more than 3,900 submissions by artisans representing 124 countries and regions.
The annual prize was launched by the LOEWE FOUNDATION in 2016 to celebrate excellence, artistic merit, and innovation in modern craftsmanship. The award, which was conceived by creative director Jonathan Anderson, aims to acknowledge the importance of craft in today’s culture and recognise working artists whose talent, vision, and will innovate promise to set a new standard for the future. The prize was created as a tribute to LOEWE’s beginnings as a collective craft workshop in 1846.
‘Craft is the essence of LOEWE. As a house, we are about craft in the purest sense of the word. That is where our modernity lies and it will always be relevant.’ Jonathan Anderson, LOEWE creative director
ABOUT THE WINNER
ANDRÉS ANZA (MEXICO / LIVES IN SAN PEDRO GARZA GARCÍA, MEXICO)
b. 1991: Anza attained a BA from the University of Monterrey in 2014. He has presented solo exhibitions at Galería Anna Marra, Rome; Galería Casa Gotxikoa, San Pedro; Centro Cultural Plaza Fátima, San Pedro; and Galería Obra Negra, Mexico City. Additionally, he has participated in group exhibitions across Mexico, Italy, Denmark, and the United States. His ceramic work was included in the 2015 Emerging Art Biennial in Monterrey, where he won the Encouragement to Create award. In 2016, he also received an honourable mention for his contribution to the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Biennial.
ABOUT THE SPECIAL MENTIONS:
MIKI ASAI (JAPAN / LIVES IN AICHI, JAPAN)
b. 1969: boos began his training as a potter in Paris in 1998 and became an apprentice to Jean Girel in Burgundy between 2000 and 2003. In 2011, he earned a PhD in artistic practice at the Royal College of Art in London, on the subject of the poetics of glaze. He has presented solo exhibitions at Jousse Entreprise, Paris, Peter Kammermann + Galerie H, Geneva, and Sèvres Gallery, Paris. In 2023, he was named Artist of the Fair at Collect London with Joanna Bird Gallery and has twice been a recipient of the German Design Award as part of the design label Maomi.
HEECHAN KIM (REPUBLIC OF KOREA / LIVES IN WEEHAWKEN, UNITED STATES)
b. 1982: Kim received a BFA in metal arts and jewelry from Seoul National University before pursuing an MFA in woodworking and furniture design at the Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. He is currently a faculty member of Parsons School of Design and the City College of New York, teaching product design and sculpture. Recent shows include group exhibitions at Fondazione Giangiacomo, Milan; Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York; and Mana Contemporary, Jersey City. In 2022, he was the recipient of the New Jersey Arts and Culture Grant.
In addition to LOEWE creative director Jonathan Anderson, the jury for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2022 included:
Minsuk Cho, architect and winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture
Biennale 2014
Naoto Fukasawa, designer and Director of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo
Olivier Gabet, Director of the Department of Decorative Arts, Louvre Museum, Paris
Eriko Inazaki, winner of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2023
Sheila Loewe (Chairwoman), President of the LOEWE FOUNDATION
Magdalene Odundo, ceramicist
Wang Shu, architect, and Pritzker Prize winner
Deyan Sudjic, essayist and Director Emeritus of the Design Museum, London
Abraham Thomas, Curator of Modern Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Patricia Urquiola, architect and industrial designer
Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, Architecture and Design Correspondent for El País
ABOUT LOEWE FOUNDATION CRAFT PRIZE
The LOEWE FOUNDATION launched the international annual LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize in 2016 to showcase and celebrate newness, excellence, and artistic merit in modern craftsmanship. The LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2024 recognises the shortlisted artists as having made fundamentally important contributions to the development of contemporary craft and spans ceramics, jewelry, textiles, woodwork, glass, metalwork, furniture, papercraft, and lacquer. The Prize functions as a multigenerational snapshot of the utmost excellence in craft today.
The award, which was conceived by LOEWE Creative Director Jonathan Anderson, aims to acknowledge the importance of craft in today’s culture and recognise working artisans whose talent, vision, and will to innovate set a standard for the future.
The incentive for the prize was inspired by LOEWE’s beginnings as a collective craft workshop in 1846, reflecting fashion’s vital link to culture and the importance of advanced, specialised knowledge to the field. Art, craft, and design remain fundamental cornerstones to the house’s present chapter.
Any professional artisan aged over 18 can apply for the award, with the sole requirement that the submitted work combines an innovative application of its craft with an original artistic concept.
THE LOEWE FOUNDATION
The LOEWE FOUNDATION was established as a private cultural foundation in 1988 by Enrique Loewe, a fourth-generation member of LOEWE’s founding family. Today, the Foundation continues to promote creativity, organise educational programs, and protect cultural heritage in the fields of craft, art, design, photography, poetry, and dance. The Foundation was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts by the Spanish government in 2002.
More information:
web | www.loewe.com
blog | www.blogfundacionloewe.es
Instagram | @loewefoundation
LOEWE & CULTURE
With the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, the house reasserts its longstanding commitment to creativity in all forms and disciplines. Culture is a pillar of the brand. Reflecting fashion’s vital link to contemporary life, a strong emphasis on art, design, and craftsmanship has been a cornerstone of Jonathan Anderson’s rebuilding of the house. Since Anderson’s appointment in 2013, LOEWE has initiated an important series of collaborations with artists and artists who reinterpret and expand the brand’s values. Apart from showcasing the many facets of LOEWE, these cultural projects reflect the transfer of knowledge and the cooperative spirit that have been characteristic of LOEWE since the day it was founded.
ABOUT THE ROOM
The Room is a digital platform dedicated to showcasing works by the artists nominated for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, our annual international award celebrating excellence in craftsmanship.
Part of the LOEWE FOUNDATION’s longstanding commitment to supporting contemporary craft, The Room enables the artists to share their work with a global audience and give viewers the opportunity to discover, research, and collect art by some of the world’s most innovative craftspeople working today.
Find out more at theroom.loewe.com
ABOUT PALAIS DE TOKYO
Europe’s major center for contemporary art, Palais de Tokyo presents a bold, diverse, and inclusive vision of the art of our times. Across three annual cycles of exhibitions, Palais de Tokyo’s programming pays particular attention to the French and emerging art scene, while providing opportunities to discover global contemporary creation. Committed to sharing its exhibitions with the widest possible audience, Palais de Tokyo pursues an ambitious outreach program, with a special focus on groups with specific needs, particularly relating to mental health. These were given a permanent home in 2023 with the inauguration of the ‘hamo’, a dedicated space for education and artistic discovery. The first art center in France to create a sustainability department, Palais de Tokyo has adopted a philosophy of ‘institutional permaculture’, which takes inspiration from the virtuous principles of agricultural permaculture to provide a frame of reference for the art center’s sustainable transition, supporting both its programming choices and the transformation of its working methods. Located at the heart of Paris, on the banks of the Seine across from the Eiffel Tower, Palais de Tokyo is also a place to meet and relax, with a café, bookshop, two restaurants, a nightclub, and an extensive program of talks, screenings, performances and events related to its exhibitions.
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