The 2017 Nominees
The LOEWE Craft Prize
The 2017 Nominees
Since time immemorial, craftsmanship has colourfully conveyed the story of civilisation.
Adi Toch Anne Low Artesanías Panikua Bae Sejin Brendan Lee Satish Tang Celia Pym Chiachio & Giannone David Huycke Ernst Gamperl Fátima Tocornal Guillermo Álvarez-Charvel Heidi Friesen Helena Schepens Igawa Takeshi Kim Buck Kristina Rothe Lino Tagliapietra Patrícia Domingues Robert Baines Sangwoo Kim Sara Flynn Shuji Nakagawa Sona Rani Roy Sylvie Vandenhoucke Yoshiaki Kojiro Zhilong Zheng
With each time-honoured piece, generations of artisans have contributed to a collective narrative, expressing a universal appreciation for culture, creativity, and cognizance. Launched by the LOEWE FOUNDATION in 2016, the LOEWE Craft Prize is a celebration of these long-standing values in their contemporary form. Featuring the 26 nominees, this touring exhibition reflects the merits of modern craftsmanship. The imagination, diversity, and techniques on display all attest to the crucial role artisans have in the ongoing construction of cultural heritage. Founded as a collective craft workshop in 1846, LOEWE has maintained an unwavering commitment to traditional techniques and state of the art technologies without neglecting artisanal excellence. It is an enduring vision that has steered the house across three separate centuries. The LOEWE FOUNDATION has sought to expand upon these values through its patronage of poetry, dance, music, architecture, photography, design and craftsmanship for the past three decades. Today, the inaugural LOEWE Craft Prize takes this longstanding vision one step further. This celebration of craftsmanship forms the essence of the house’s heritage, but it also encapsulates a much larger story – one that weaves through humanity’s shared past, present, and future.
United Kingdom Canada Mexico Republic of Korea Canada United Kingdom Argentina Belgium Germany Spain Mexico Canada Belgium Japan Denmark Germany Italy Portugal Australia Republic of Korea Ireland Japan Bangladesh Belgium Japan China
The Jury
The Experts Panel
Jonathan Anderson LOEWE Creative Director
John Allen Master weaver and textile designer
Gijs Bakker Jewellery artist and co-founder of Droog Design
Claudi Casanovas Ceramist
Rolf Fehlbaum Former CEO and soul of Vitra
Sara Die Trill LOEWE accessories designer
Naoto Fukasawa Designer and Director of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum
Ramón Puig Cuyàs Jewellery artist
Enrique Loewe LOEWE FOUNDATION Honorary President Deyan Sudjic Essayist and Director of the Design Museum, London Benedetta Tagliabue Architect and Pritzker Prize jury member Stefano Tonchi Editor-in-Chief W Magazine Patricia Urquiola Architect and industrial designer Anatxu Zabalbeascoa (Chairwoman) Architecture and design correspondent for El País
Markku Salo Glass artist Anatxu Zabalbeascoa Architecture and design correspondent for El País
Adi Toch
Born 1979 in Jerusalem, Israel.
Anne Low
Adi Toch honed her considered approach to metalwork in her hometown of Jerusalem, Israel. Her work has attracted accolades from around the world and forms part of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the city where she now resides.
An acclaimed artist and weaver, Anne Low lives and works in Vancouver. Using 18th and 19th Century handlooms, her affinity for textiles is nurtured by a long-held desire to embed traditional practices into more surprising forms.
Part of the five-piece Whispering Vessels series, the hand-scribed surface of this concave bowl was hewn from a flat sheet of Britannia silver. An aperture reveals a hollowed-out centre filled with 1,000 stainless steel balls, creating a swirling metallic sound when the bowl is spun on its axis. Encircling Vessel combines form, movement and sound to evoke multiple senses.
By presenting this colour-strewn cloth within a black walnut frame, Low invites us to contemplate the endless material possibilities of textiles. The linen was given its stripes using the ancient dye plant madder and then embellished with miniature pieces of Gorgonian coral. The result is a hand-woven cloth recast as an alluring observational piece.
Encircling Vessel, 2015 Britannia silver contains stainless steel balls 20 × 20 × 12 cm
An Ambitious Pagan I, 2015 Linen, madder dye, Gorgonian coral, black walnut 119 × 22.6 × 0.75 cm
Born 1981 in Stratford, Canada.
Artesanías Panikua Descendants of the indigenous Purépecha people from Mexico’s Michoacán region, this family workshop weaves ancestral craftsmanship and mythology into every creation. Between farming and fishing, Antonio Cornelio, his wife Verónica, and two daughters Gabriela and Bertha, further a legacy that extends well beyond their own family. Several hundred strands of wheat fibre are woven together to form this Purépecha representation of a sun deity that denotes war and fire. Decorated by the dual motifs of stars and humming birds, it also illuminates the connection between craft and ancient farming techniques. The intricately designed piece is a testament to the inter-generational transfer of knowledge and skills; a practice that preserves the unbroken chain of ancient production.
Tata Curiata, 2016 Wheat fiber 143 cm
Founded in Mexico.
Bae Sejin Bae Sejin is an artist and ceramicist based in the South Korean capital. Often described as narrative art, his work has been exhibited in some of Europe’s most esteemed galleries and toured art fairs across Asia, Europe, and the United States. Inspired by Samuel Beckett’s play ‘Waiting for Godot’, the cyclical nature of time is explored by the artist’s own embrace of repetition. Creating a total of 147,167 ceramic pieces in the collection, each meticulously made component is an embodiment of the rituals of cutting, inscribing, and affixing. Assembled as an elaborate clay pot, these recurring processes permeate the circular form to represent the endless passage of time.
Waiting for Godot 130307-134090, 2015 Clay 65 × 65 × 54 cm
Born 1981 in Ganghwa, Republic of Korea.
Brendan Lee Satish Tang Born in Ireland to Trinidadian parents and now a naturalised Canadian citizen, a fascination for the interface between cultures, traditions, and materials is a central force in his ceramics. When not confined to his Vancouver studio, Tang works as an academic and resident artist. Reminiscent of the 18th century gilded ormolu that saw ancient Chinese vessels converted into curiosity pieces for French aristocrats, this futuristic update fuses Ming dynasty vernacular with the robotic forms of Japanese Manga. Amalgamating decorative tradition with contemporary pop culture, creates a striking ceramic dialogue between two distinct design languages. The symbolic bridge is a vivid assertion that transcendence is the unifying feature of human cultural history.
Manga Ormolu Ver. 5.0-s, 2016 Low fire ceramics, glaze, acrylic 40.6 × 40.6 × 64 cm
Born 1975 in Dublin, Ireland.
Celia Pym With a background in sculpture, London-born artist Celia Pym saw her morning studio ritual of knitting, gradually refocus her attention to the artful expression of needlework. Questioning the invisibility of restoration is woven into her work. After a visit to Norwegian artist Annemor Sundbø’s 1-tonne collection of salvaged hand-knitting, Celia Pym was given this severely frayed sweater. She dutifully darned it back together using white yarn. Its once-tattered form is a deliberate juxtaposition between destruction and restoration. Conjuring up ideas about how we care for craft, the regenerated sweater is now a discernible —and wearable— ode to the oft-unseen work of the seamstress.
Norwegian Sweater, 2010 Wool and original damaged sweater from Annemor Sundbø’s Ragpile Collection 78 × 74 × 8 cm
Born 1978 in London, England.
Chiachio & Giannone Trained as painters, Argentinean artists Leo Chiachio and Daniel Giannone have been translating their vision to tapestries since they began working together in 2003. The pair continues to create individual and joint works from their studio in Buenos Aires.
Founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
David Huycke Hailing from Sint-Niklaas in Belgium, Huycke studied as a silversmith and jewellery design in Antwerp and works as an independent artist and teacher in Hasselt. His work often reflects process, a love-hate relationship with ornamentation, and chaotic order.
This imaginative melange of flora and fauna is brought to life through the considered application of embroidery. The ‘white forest’ is a playful homage to their pet dog ‘Piolin’ who is patiently perched on his own wicker throne at the centre of the work. Adorned with generously-sized jewellery tassels, the three whimsical scenes are illustrated using brightly coloured cotton threads. Set amidst the colourful flowers and foliage, this animal kingdom is resplendent with childhood wonder.
This masterfully moulded bowl is the culmination of layers of miniature spheres. With its playful use of the granulation technique, tension is derived from an ostensibly simple form that reveals an inherently complex structure upon closer inspection. Made from more than 20,000 silver spheres, the pure visceral pleasure of each individual granule is overtaken by an appreciation for their function as an essential building material. The distinction between the smooth surface and perforated interior are a raw allusion to order and chaos.
Selva Blanca, 2015 Rayon wood, cotton and jewellery threads 460 × 285 cm, 3 pieces
Edge of Chaos, 2012 Silver 17 × 17 × 13 cm
Born 1967 in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium.
Ernst Gamperl After graduating from a cabinetmaking apprenticeship Gamperl went on to complete a master in woodturning and has establish studios in both Germany and Italy. Carving a distinct niche with his unique appreciation for wood has proliferated his work across Europe, Asia, and America. Hewn from a massive 300-year-old oak uprooted during a storm, this large wooden containers take their design cues from the forms, fissures, and fractures of the original tree. While careful carvings of filigree parallel grooves evince the artisan’s hand on the surface, the treatment of clay, earth, and stone powder combine with the wood’s natural tannic acid to give the objects a fitting organic finish. Replete with natural imperfections, these tributes eternalise the story of a fallen tree.
Tree of Life 2, 2016 Oak 53 × 51 × 92 cm
Born 1965 in Munich, Germany.
Fátima Tocornal Cádiz born artist turned artisan, Tocornal has been exhibiting her work across Spain and abroad since 1990. More recently, a background in mural painting and jewellery design has merged, culminating in her signature style of whimsical, wearable portraits. This quartet of diminutive discs, is a jewellery collection adorned with four individual female portraits. The portraits have been painstakingly applied with enamel onto the plated nickel and silver. Imagined as part of an exhibition titled ‘Silence please’ each piece provides a poetic metaphor about the requisite silence of the creative process. The material and technical expertise combined with the use of figurative decoration is a rare feat in the creation of contemporary jewellery.
Dreamers, 2015 Enamel, plated nickel, silver 0.5 × 6.5 × 6.5 cm each, 4 pieces
Born 1956 in Cadiz, Spain.
Guillermo Álvarez-Charvel After studying visual arts in Mexico City, Álvarez-Charvel has explored the transgressions of three-dimensionality through a surfeit of solo and group exhibitions. He is a member of SNCA – the National System of Art Creators – recognition for his outstanding service to Mexico’s national identity.
Born 1975 in Mexico.
Heidi Friesen A young multidisciplinary maker based in Toronto, Friesen experimented with graphic design, photography and performance art before finding her niche with textiles. Her work examines natural systems as a model and metaphor for ethical production and intercultural relationships.
Folded paper modules are assembled to create a strong composite structure; a union that revels in several in-built paradoxes. Joined without glue, the bowl can be disassembled and reconfigured, exposing both fragility and strength. The typically natural material of palm leaf tissue paper is eschewed for an industrial paper process, creating a link between the primitive and contemporary. Furthermore, the object’s intricate form is an exercise in expressive simplicity.
The universal language of textiles is painstakingly explored by intertwining two separate panels of fabric. After removing the weft threads from a piece of antique Hungarian linen, natural fibres from folk textiles were woven in; creating a connection between old and new. An exaggerated fringe draws attention to materiality and process. With each thread, colour, and pattern, the reworking of old linen conveys a story about the mutually beneficial cultural exchange of materials and techniques.
Animal Print, 2010 Paper 55 × 65 × 60 cm
NeoFolk, 2016 Linen, cotton, hemp, silk 250 × 200 cm
Born 1984 in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Helena Schepens
Born 1981 in Antwerp, Belgium.
Igawa Takeshi
This Belgium-born jewellery designer and silversmith works from her own studio in Antwerp. Informed by nature, Schepens has a profound interest in the patterns of the microscopic organisms living in water; an endless source of inspiration in her work.
An accomplished practitioner of the ancient Japanese art of Urushi lacquering, Igawa Takeshi has a PhD in lacquer arts from the Kyoto University of Arts and currently lectures in Kyushu. His work is admired throughout Asia and beyond.
Combining concept with craftsmanship, this concave semi-transparent vessel was created from a flat piece of sterling silver. The surface has been delicately pierced to produce a refined pattern of perforation. The cumulative effect instils the metal with the delicate veneer of crystal. The added effect of light casts an unexpected poetic shadow.
This elegant interpretation of an ancient art form examines the enduring relationship between form, texture, and function. Sourced from the sap of the Urushi tree, the lacquer requires a secondary material to acquire form. Applied to high-quality polyurethane, the traditional technique is presented without the customary Makie decorations. The pared-back exposition of the arduous Urushi technique becomes the essence of an object that gleams with timeless beauty.
Ellerbeckia, 2010 Sterling silver 25 × 25 × 8 cm
Line and Surface: VI, 2013 Polyurethane, linen, Urushi Japanese lacquer 170 × 49 × 32 cm
Born 1980 in Japan.
Kim Buck After apprenticing as a goldsmith and graduating from Copenhagen’s Institute of Precious Metals, Danish designer Kim Buck opened his eponymous studio and gallery in 1990. He has created lines for designers such as Georg Jensen, focusing on the interplay between wearer and object. The insignia of signet rings can provide clues to a person’s identity. With this series of inflated forms, designer Kim Buck inscribes a protracted metaphor into the metal itself. Carefully welded from a sheet of 999.9 gold, the three rings were puffed up with hot air to symbolise the risk of inflating one’s ego. As they are worn, the swollen signet rings slowly collapse, the shiny patina accrues scratches, and the wearer is reminded of the hazards of hyperbole.
Puffed Up series 2011-2016, 2012 999.9 gold 4 × 3 × 5 cm per ring, 3 pieces
Born 1957 in Denmark.
Kristina Rothe Trained in textile design, German designer Kristina Rothe has been applying her minimalist vision to the creation of paper objects since 2014. Her increasingly sepulchral series of paper urns challenges perceptions of death. This paper vessel is proffered as an unobtrusive companion for the deceased. Breaking with the customarily dark, heavy traits of traditional coffins and urns, Rothe creates a light, serene structure accentuated by a sensual surface. Hewn from handmade paper, the pristine white colour symbolises a new beginning. By creating a more sanguine alternative to the funeral aesthetic, this transient urn consoles the bereaved with its softly-spoken humanity.
Burial object ‘Steps’, 2015 Handmade paper 18 × 14 × 18 cm
Born 1983 in Germany.
Lino Tagliapietra As a Venetian-born artist, Lino Tagliapietra has been polishing an innate gift for glassblowing on the island of Murano ever since he was a young boy. Now an esteemed and widely influential master glassblower, his celebrated style draws inspiration from water and aquatic creatures. Part of Tagliapietra’s iconic prehistoric creature series, this multi-coloured sculpture is a striking symbol of natural evolution. Using a sophisticated technique applied to the multi-coloured mosaic glass Vetro Murrino, the small tesserae melt together at the fusion stage to create a wonderfully vivid melange. Relating the perceived strength of the dinosaur with the fluidity of the fish and animals found in the Venetian lagoon is a reflection of the recurring malleability of mother nature.
Dinosaur, 2016 Blown glass, Roman multicolor murrini 41 × 22 × 147 cm
Born 1934 in Venice, Italy.
Patrícia Domingues A student of goldsmithing and artistic jewellery since the age of fifteen, Portuguese artisan Patrícia Domingues has progressively honed her craft with rare stones. Her internationally acclaimed designs often emulate the rich natural landscape. This small pendant stone reflects a landscape sculpted by the ravages of nature and time. Applying a controlled process of fragmentation and reconstruction to one of the planet’s most sought-after gemstones, Domingues creates countless nuances that are almost imperceptible. The celestial blue colour of the lapis lazuli stone has intrigued humanity for thousands of years as a universal symbol of wisdom and truth. This fragmented process, which embraces the rhythm of separation and reunification, creates a microcosm and metaphor of the earth’s transforming terrain.
Many & Deliberated, 2016 Reconstructed lapis lazuli 6 × 6 × 3 cm
Born 1986 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Robert Baines An Emeritus Professor of both gold and silversmithing, Melbourne artist Robert Baines uses precious metals to fashion intricate pieces. His prolific work fuses historic techniques with his signature contemporary vernacular.
Born 1949 in Melbourne, Australia.
Sangwoo Kim Trained in traditional Onggi pottery, Korean ceramicist Sangwoo Kim specialises in creating large vessels with over-sized clay slabs. Living in both Switzerland and France has influenced his ever-evolving style guided by time-honoured techniques and intercultural impulses.
Expanding on the vernacular of Steampunk – a science fiction subgenre inspired by the 19th Century technological aesthetic – Baines intertwines historical jewellery design techniques with futuristic forms in this wearable piece. Comprised entirely of gold, the filigree structure transcends time, appearing both archaic and simultaneously avant-garde. Suspended on a simplified chain, the complex centrepiece enmeshes musings about both the material and metaphysical realms.
This ceramic sculpture, captures the rounded forms of Switzerland’s snow-covered Emmental mountain range. A porcelain veneer pours over the surface to represent the alpine snow. An intense polishing process then reveals the structure beneath; similar to the way melted snow exposes the hidden landscape. Conjuring up an unexpected haptic effect, the artisan reawakens the senses through his reinterpretation of European and Asian traditions.
Steampunk from the Cosmos, 2016 Gold 750 12 × 39 × 10 cm
Winter, 2016 Stoneware and porcelain 145 × 78 × 70 cm
Born 1980 in Republic of Korea.
Sara Flynn
Born 1971 in Cork, Ireland.
Shuji Nakagawa
Based in Belfast, ceramicist Sara Flynn specialises in the creation of both porcelain and bronze sculptures. Her work adorns a plethora of public and private collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, Chatsworth House in the United Kingdom, and Ireland’s Hunt Museum.
A modern day practitioner of traditional Kyoto woodworking, Shuji Nakagawa is part of a family legacy of artisans that stretches back generations. Specialising in the fine Japanese woodwork style of sashimono and bucket-making technique ki-oke, he upholds longstanding craft traditions.
An exploration of form and volume, this darkly-hued vessel reflects a deep understanding of porcelain. Cut and reassembled, sprayed with a manganese-rich glaze and then high-fired in a gas kiln, the process tests the porcelain’s limits to further underscore its beauty as a strong, robust material. The outcome delivers an exquisite colour and shape infused, as ever, with the artist’s deep affection for her material.
Traditional joined parquetry techniques are reimagined with modern mathematical precision to create three remarkably tactile circular trays. Using Japanese cedar cut from a specific height and joining the wood according to the angles and patterns of pre-existing wood rings, Nakagawa was able to repress a natural predisposition for shrinking. By creating a piece that is wider than the original log, his calculations harness a greater strength to avoid cracks and warping. Bringing scientific rigour to traditional craft, this technique invigorates an already formidable family legacy.
Esker Vessel, 2016 Porcelain 12 × 22 × 29 cm
Big Trays of parquetry, 2015 Japanese cedar wood 54 cm, 59 cm and 71 cm, 3 pieces
Born 1968 in Japan.
Sona Rani Roy
Born 1963 in Bangladesh.
Sylvie Vandenhoucke
Hailing from the Rangpur region of Bangladesh, master artisan Sona Rani Roy is the embodiment of age-old quilting techniques passed down by her agrarian ancestors. A member of the collective behind luxury brand Living Blue, her textile creations are celebrated as works of art.
An artist and academic, Belgian-born Sylvie Vandenhoucke has made a passionate contribution to the understanding of glass through her research and ruminating artworks. She continues to create internationally acclaimed works of glass from her home in Ghent.
Taking six months to complete, this delicately woven quilt is a tribute to the often unsung labours of the rural women of Bangladesh. The ‘white on white’ or WoW piece consists of five painstakingly stitched quilted layers; a textile tradition that local women are taught by their mothers and lovingly embraced as a cultural duty. Weaving her own family lineage into every layer of cotton, Bangladeshi artisan Sona Rani Roy creates a true legacy item.
Thousands of singular glass components are arranged to form a standalone constellation for Vandenhoucke’s wall piece. Using pâte de verre or glass paste to create finger-tip-sized individual elements, the pattern develops like a drawing, evolving exponentially in accordance with the initial internal logic of the original pieces. Apportioned by a lower line that divides two slightly different shapes, the effect is reminiscent of a horizon in an empty landscape.
White on White Quilt - Moyur, 2016 Cotton fabric 180 × 230 cm
Converging line, 2014 Pâte de verre glass 93 × 93 × 6 cm
Born 1969 in Ronse, Belgium.
Yoshiaki Kojiro After studying architecture in his hometown of Chiba, Japan, Yoshiaki Kojiro honed his artisanal skills at the Tokyo Glass Art Institute. His disciplined approach to glass-making is infused with his native culture and his propensity for investigation.
Born 1968 in Chiba, Japan.
Zhilong Zheng A graduate of architecture and environmental art at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Chinese artisan Zhilong Zheng has been collecting and testing new uses for disused timber since his college days. His organic creations contrast with China’s industrial milieu.
A musing on the relationship between materials and man, this glass bowl becomes a trophy of experimentation. Blending glass powder with copper oxide, the firing process creates a unique interplay between the melted glass and the gases emanating from heated mineral. The result is an ephemeral glow that creates a withered texture on the lasting form. Transmitting the strength of a ceramic piece made from the delicacy of glass, the rich blue-coloured bowl is a radical, profound and majestic statement.
This unique piece of furniture portrays the overwhelming power of the elements to re-assimilate natural materials into the landscape. After observing how the sun and wind had returned the discarded timber of demolished houses to its natural form, Zheng created a series of chairs that appear to emerge from the earth. By creating a conduit between nature and the nurtured environment, each piece resonates with a gentle reverence for age-old Chinese craft traditions.
Structural Blue, 2015 Glass powder and copper oxide powder 54 × 54 × 39 cm
Tree Chair, 2015 Wood 46 × 46 × 73 cm
Born 1982 in JiangXi, China.
The inaugural LOEWE Craft Prize exhibition aims to both seduce and inform. At first glance, each piece encapsulates the ambition of artistic craftsmanship: a bastion of creativity fixated on achieving beauty. By combining renowned masters with young creators, this exhibition delves into this ambition even further. It is a celebration of mastering risk, translating it into technique, and delivering novelty to one’s discipline. Anatxu Zabalbeascoa Chairwoman LOEWE Craft Prize Jury
The LOEWE Craft Prize Trophy Designed by Alex Brogden
Exhibitions
The 2017 Nominees Adi Toch Anne Low Artesanías Panikua Bae Sejin Brendan Lee Satish Tang Celia Pym Chiachio & Giannone David Huycke Ernst Gamperl Fátima Tocornal Guillermo Álvarez-Charvel Heidi Friesen Helena Schepens Igawa Takeshi Kim Buck Kristina Rothe Lino Tagliapietra Patrícia Domingues Robert Baines Sangwoo Kim Sara Flynn Shuji Nakagawa Sona Rani Roy Sylvie Vandenhoucke Yoshiaki Kojiro Zhilong Zheng
United Kingdom Canada Mexico Republic of Korea Canada United Kingdom Argentina Belgium Germany Spain Mexico Canada Belgium Japan Denmark Germany Italy Portugal Australia Republic of Korea Ireland Japan Bangladesh Belgium Japan China
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Madrid COAM Hortaleza,63 April 11-May 10, 2017 New York Chamber Gallery 515 W 23rd St New York, NY 10011 May 30-June 6, 2017 Paris September, 2017 Tokyo November, 2017 London Collect, Saatchi Gallery Duke Of York’s HQ King’s Rd, Chelsea London SW3 4RY February 22-25, 2018
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