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 June 2024. The exhibition will also be available to view online and documented through an exhibition catalogue.

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 an 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 work across a range of mediums including ceramics, woodwork, textiles, leather, glass, metal, jewellery 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 to 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