By Silvia Manzoni. Cover image by Margaret Mitchem.
Why is everybody talking about the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize? Craftsmanship is becoming Gen Z’s new crush. Young people are showing a strong interest in handicrafts and are more intrigued than previous generations by the techniques behind the creation of an artefact, even more so if it belongs to the realm of luxury. This trend is being championed by one of the world’s most acclaimed young designers.
The 39-year-old superstar creative designer Jonathan Anderson appreciates manual labour so much that he has established the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize to honour it. The awards ceremony took place recently at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.
“That this is the right way to go, we have also noticed by the evolution of participation” Anderson explains, “we have become a major event in the craft world. At first, there were only a handful of applications, and some applicants did not even know the brand. For this edition, we received 3900 applications from 124 countries, a truly incredible and dynamic sampling of creativity and know-how. For some, winning represented a real career breakthrough, as was the case with Jennifer Lee. What’s more, the age of the participants decreased, indicating a return to the tradition of passing on these manual techniques.”
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This year’s winning artwork, I Only Want What I Have Seen, is a unique “cactus” that might resemble a Joshua Tre from the Mojave Desert or a hybrid mythical creature. It is made of baked clay, painted and was created by 33-year-old Mexican artist Andrés Anza to express the relationship between the real and the unreal.
According to Jonathan Anderson, younger designer generations are more interested than previous generations in the manual creation of an object. “Young people are curious and attracted to understanding the processes involved in making objects, an interest that has been influenced by their use of digital tools and video making. Social media has contributed to this change in the perception of craftsmanship in recent years, as young people are now fascinated with the idea of the creative process. Many kids are curious and try to understand as much as they can about how an object is made.”
Jonathan Anderson and his fascination with artisanary
Jonathan ultimately admitted that, for him, “craft played a crucial role because it was the bridge between Loewe and myself. This is the key to the brand’s future. I’m fascinated by craft, and I’m a keen collector; for me, everything is about the process, whether it’s clothes, jewellery or accessories. Loewe would not exist without this craft culture; it’s part of the brand’s DNA, and it is our responsibility to protect it in every aspect, even for future generations, so that we don’t lose the savoir-faire, as unfortunately has happened in the past.”
Anderson mentioned two influential figures as his “heroes”: Lucie Rie (1902-1995), an Austrian-born British ceramicist known for her experimental glazing and decorative techniques, and his “pupil” and later creative partner Hans Coper (1920-1981), a key figure in British ceramics, who pushed the boundaries of the medium with innovative creations.
In addition to Andres Anza, other artists recognised in this edition of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize include Miki Asai (36) from Japan, who created Still Life, featuring three sculptural rings topped with miniature vases; Emmanuel Boos (55) from France, who crafted Coffee Table, Comme un Lego, a small table made from 98 hollow porcelain bricks; and Heechan Kim (42) from Korea, who produced #16 using traditional boat-building techniques with ash and copper wire to create a sculpture with enigmatic cavities.
