Flicking through photos of the 30 objects competing for the next Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, it’s often difficult to decipher the end use, the material employed — and in some cases, if one might be looking at living, organic compounds.
Unexpected forms and a “sense of playfulness and surprise” characterize many of the entries for the 2023 edition, which encompass ceramics, woodworking, textiles, furniture, paper, basket-making, glass, metal, jewelry lacquer, leather and bookbinding.
A panel of experts whittled down the finalists from 2,700 entries from 117 different countries and regions.
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Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, a design journalist and executive secretary of the experts panel, said, “We are happy to have been able to further expose the notion of craft with artistic ambition by analyzing non-western canon aesthetics as well as by approaching figurative craft.”
The winner, who receives 50,000 euros, is to be revealed on May 16 at The Noguchi Museum in New York. All 30 shortlisted works will go on display in Isamu Noguchi’s studio from May 17 until June 18.
Among the 13 jury members who will select the prize are Abraham Thomas, curator of modern architecture, design and decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; architects Benedetta Tagliabue, Patricia Urquiola and Wang Shu; ceramicist Magdalene Odundo, and Olivier Gabet, director of the art department at the Louvre Museum.
Established in 2016, the annual craft prize is the brainchild of Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson and is a tribute to the Spanish house’s roots as a collective craft workshop in 1846.
Anderson has long been a fan of craft, and the prize exalts “excellence, artistic merit and innovation in modern craftsmanship,” according to Loewe.
In previous years, the prize ceremony has been held at the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid, The Design Museum in London and the Sogetsu Kaikan in Tokyo. During the pandemic, one edition was held digitally in a joint presentation with Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and at the Seoul Museum of Craft Art.
This sixth edition offers examples of time-intensive techniques, skillful manipulation of materials and the surprise of trompe l’oeil.
“Many of the works presented in this year’s shortlist also examine the relationship between light, material and surface, with an expert handling of materials and form used to transform the reflective properties of the works and to create a sense of movement,” Loewe noted.