Cover At the Loewe Craft Prize 2025, craft plays a defining role in the landscape of contemporary creativity
At the Loewe Craft Prize 2025, craft plays a defining role in the landscape of contemporary creativity
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From cracked clay to suspended copper threads, from ancient knitting techniques to recycled metals, the Loewe Craft Prize 2025 suggests that contemporary craft is no longer merely a heritage to preserve, but a modern aesthetic in its own right.
Where fashion and art converge, the boundaries between design, sculpture and materials continue to dissolve. When the runway turns to craft, when visual artists begin to explore fabric, bamboo, terracotta or reclaimed aluminium, it signals a shift: craft is no longer a fringe pursuit. It now plays a defining role in the landscape of contemporary creativity.
The Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2025, which has drawn thousands of submissions from over 130 countries, is more than just a competition; it is a bold statement. Craft is no longer confined to tradition—it is a language for imagining what comes next. A future where couture is no longer equated with tulle or sequins, but with the fractured beauty of clay, the delicacy of copper filaments, or the textured surface of recycled metal, each rendered with intelligence, patience and belief in imperfection as a form of beauty.
Above The Loewe Craft Prize 2025 reframes contemporary craft as an aesthetic hallmark of our time
The Loewe Craft Prize 2025 reframes contemporary craft as an aesthetic hallmark of our time
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New couture from the atelier
In this evolving dialogue between fashion and art, craftsmanship is stepping out from behind the curtain. Once regarded as a silent, technical underpinning, it now commands centre stage, a dynamic interplay of materials, time and imagination. Here, the artisan’s hand takes on the role of a couturier: not with organza or tulle, but with clay, wire, or even salvaged aluminium.
Above A symphony of material, time and imagination, with the artisan’s hand assuming the role of a haute couture designer
Above A symphony of material, time and imagination, with the artisan’s hand assuming the role of a haute couture designer
A symphony of material, time and imagination, with the artisan’s hand assuming the role of a haute couture designer
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The Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2025 stands as a powerful indicator of this transformation. From a field of more than 4,600 entries across 133 nations, a jury selected 30 artisans whose works traverse the boundaries between sculpture, design, philosophy and material science.
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Above Artist Kunimasa Aoki (Japan), winner of the prize, with his work Realm of Living Things 19
Artist Kunimasa Aoki (Japan), winner of the prize, with his work Realm of Living Things 19
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Among them, Japanese artist Kunimasa Aoki emerged as this year’s laureate. His terracotta creation, Realm of Living Things 19, conjures an ecosystem that seems to inhale and exhale. Far beyond a sculptural object, the piece pulses with organic life. It is couture, born of the earth where fractures signal growth, and imperfection becomes a form of exaltation.
Above Today, craft engages not only with beauty, but also with cultural sediment, memory, politics and identity
Above Today, craft engages not only with beauty, but also with cultural sediment, memory, politics and identity
Today, craft engages not only with beauty, but also with cultural sediment, memory, politics and identity
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These works remind us that craft, now, is not merely about beauty. It delves into layers of culture, politics, memory and identity. This is “conceptual couture”: not made to be worn, but to be lived with. Each creation, be it ceramic, thread, paper, bamboo or lacquer, carries within it a map of time, place and personal history.
Loewe and the journey to redefine luxury through craft
When Loewe inaugurated the Craft Prize in 2016, it was not merely a nod to its heritage, rooted in a Madrid leather workshop established in 1846. It was a reimagining of luxury itself. Not the gleam of the flawless, but the imprint of the hand: cracks, stitches, patinas, the quiet vocabulary of time and touch.
Above A featured work from the exhibition
Above A featured work from the exhibition
A featured work from the exhibition
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“For me, the magic of the prize is to witness every year the ability of craftsmanship to constantly innovate, to create and to evolve,” said Sheila Loewe, Director of the Loewe Foundation. Her words read as a manifesto for a post-industrial era, an age fatigued by sameness and speed, now longing for the singularity of the handmade.
Above The Craft Prize is more than a competition: it is a couture week for the artisan world
The Craft Prize is more than a competition: it is a couture week for the artisan world
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The Craft Prize is more than a competition: it is a couture week for the artisan world. A stage where creators present their visions, not with fabric swatches, but with clay, glass, metal and thread. Perhaps now is the moment to embrace a broader definition: couture is no longer reserved for fashion’s elite. It resides in every object shaped by hand, steeped in memory, and made in pursuit of artistic freedom.
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