30 Selected Artists at LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2023

Article / Artists Curating Exhibiting Collecting

Published: 28.02.2023

Author:: Loewe Foundation

Edited by:: Klimt02

Edited at:: Barcelona

Edited on:: 2023

Johannes Kuhnen
Vessel: Vessel — Red Centre, 2022
Titanium, anodised aluminium, Monel and stainless steel
41 x 48 x 22 cm

This striking, large metal vessel combines an anodised aluminium baseplate with titanium buttress blades at near-random angles, supporting thin titanium walls. The interior is rendered in luminous pink, and the angularity of the work leads the vessel walls to change in colour — inspired by the changing colour of the surface of Uluru rock in central Australia at different points in the day.
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LOEWE FOUNDATION is pleased to announce the names of the 30 shortlisted artists for the 2023 edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize. Each finalist’s work will be exhibited in Isamu Noguchi’s Studio at The Noguchi Museum in New York from 17 May until 18 June 2023.

The sixth edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize presents a selection of works that explore meditative, time-intensive techniques and skilful manipulation of materials. Unexpected forms and colours also feature in this year’s shortlist, introducing a sense of playfulness and surprise. The use of trompe l’oeil techniques in many of the works further confounds viewers’ expectations at first look they appear to be made from one material and on closer inspection are revealed to be another entirely. 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.

This year’s finalists were chosen by a panel of experts from over 2,700 submissions by artisans representing 117 countries and regions. The finalists selected represent 16 countries and work across a range of mediums including ceramics, woodwork, textiles, furniture, paper, basketry, glass, metal, jewellery lacquer, leather and bookbinding.
In their deliberations, the panel sought to identify the most outstanding works in terms of technical accomplishment, skills, innovation and artistic vision.

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 to recognise artists whose talent, vision and will to innovate promise to set a new standard for the future. The prize was conceived as a tribute to LOEWE’s beginnings as a collective craft workshop in 1846.

The 30 finalist’s work for the 2023 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize will go on display in Isamu Noguchi’s Studio at The Noguchi Museum. The 2023 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize will be the first time a public exhibition has been staged in the space. Purchased by Noguchi in 1961, his Long Island City Studio was the centre of his artistic practice in the United States during the last decades of his life. The studio is also the reason he purchased the empty 1929 factory building across the street, where he eventually established his eponymous museum. The legacy of the exhibition will be documented by a catalogue containing each of the finalists’ pieces.

Previous iterations of the prize have been exhibited at Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM), Madrid (2017); The Design Museum, London (2018); Isamu Noguchi’s indoor stone garden ‘Heaven’ at the Sogetsu Kaikan, Tokyo (2019); digitally in a joint presentation with Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (2021) and at Seoul Museum of Craft Art (SeMoCA), Seoul (2022).

Jonathan Anderson stated at the award’s inception: ‘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.’

Regarding the selection process, Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, Executive Secretary of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Experts Panel, said: ‘On the sixth edition, we have felt that, with the Prize character established, we ought to open doors. And therefore, we are happy to have been able to further expose the notion of craft with artistic ambition by analysing non-western cannon aesthetics as well as by approaching figurative craft ’.

A jury composed of 13 leading figures from the world of design, architecture, journalism, criticism and museum curatorship will select the winner of the 2023 Craft Prize. The prize awarded to the winner is 50,000 Euros and the announcement will be made on 16 May 2023, at the opening of the Craft Prize 2023 exhibition at The Noguchi Museum.

The selected finalists for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2023 are (in alphabetical order, with nationality):
Ai Shikanji (Japan), Aranda\Lasch & Terrol Dew Johnson (United States), Claire Lindner (France), Dominique Zinkpè (Benin), Dong Han (People’s Republic of China), Eriko Inazaki (Japan), Giorgi Danibegashvili (Georgia), Healim Shin (Republic of Korea), Inchin Lee (Republic of Korea), Jaiik Lee (Republic of Korea), Jana Visser (South Africa), Johannes Kuhnen (Australia), Kaori Juzu (Denmark), Keeryoung Choi (United Kingdom), Kenji Honma (Japan), Kristin McKirdy (France), Kyouhong Lee (Republic of Korea), Lene Bødker (Denmark), Liam Lee (United States), Luz Moreno Pinart (Spain), Mabel Irene Pena (Argentina), Maina Devi (India), Maki Imoto (Japan), Moe Watanabe (Japan), Nathalie Doyen (Belgium), Prue Venables (Australia), Shinji Nakaba (Japan), Tanya Aguiñiga (United States), Wanbing Huang (People’s Republic of China), Woosun Cheon (Republic of Korea).

Jury:
Abraham Thomas, Curator of Modern Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Anatxu Zabalbeascoa (Chair), Architecture and Design Correspondent for El País.
Benedetta Tagliabue, Architect and RIBA Stirling Prize Winner.
Deyan Sudjic, Essayist and former Director of the Design Museum, London.
Enrique Loewe, LOEWE FOUNDATION Honorary President.
Dahye Jeong, Textile artist and Winner of LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2022.
Hongnam Kim, former Director of the National Museum of Korea, Seoul.
Jonathan Anderson, LOEWE Creative Director.
Magdalene Odundo, Ceramicist.
Naoto Fukasawa, Designer and Director of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, Tokyo.
Olivier Gabet, Director of the Art Department at the Louvre Museum, Paris.
Patricia Urquiola, Architect and Industrial Designer.
Wang Shu, Architect and Pritzker Prize Winner.

About The LOEWE Foundation
The LOEWE FOUNDATION was established as a private cultural foundation in 1988 by Enrique Loewe, a fourth-generation member of LOEWE’s founding family. Today, under the direction of his daughter Sheila Loewe, the Foundation continues to promote creativity, organise educational programs and protect cultural heritage in the fields of craft, design, photography, poetry and dance. The Foundation was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts by the Spanish government in 2002.

LOEWE & Culture
With the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize the house reasserts its longstanding commitment to creativity in all forms and disciplines. Culture is a pillar of the brand. Reflecting fashion’s vital link to contemporary life, a strong emphasis on art, design and craftsmanship has been a cornerstone of Jonathan Anderson’s rebuilding of the house. Since Anderson’s appointment in 2013, LOEWE has initiated an important series of collaborations with artists and artisans who reinterpret and expand the brand’s values. Apart from showcasing the many facets of LOEWE, these cultural projects reflect the transfer of knowledge and the cooperative spirit that have been characteristic of LOEWE since the day it was founded.

Tanya Aguiñiga
Sculpture: Matriarchal Womb, 2022
Cotton, Mexican terracotta, and synthetic hair.
162.5 x 142 x 30.4 cm

This textile work layers materials and methods to express poignant metaphors about family and community. It is a homage to matrilineal support and the tender relationship between Aguiñiga and her daughter. Based on the outline of the two of them, huddled side by side, the work uses a variety of techniques, including off-loom weaving, knotting, crochet and knitting, as a metaphor for the interconnected non-hierarchical relationships within communities. Sections of the work have been dipped in self-drying terracotta, an important material to cultures of the global south, which forms a rigid but flexible skin around the fibres.
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Terrol Dew Johnson
Aranda Lasch
Vessel: Desert Paper 18, 2022
Copper powder and jute pulp paper.
18 x 28 x 36 cm

This gathered sumptuous turquoise vessel expands the limits of basket construction and draws on indigenous American traditions. Found materials from the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, including bear grass, yucca, wildflowers, creosote, copper, volcanic rock, and agave, have been mixed to create a pulp and draped over stones to produce this expressive shape, which conveys the lessons and memories of the land from which it is formed.
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Lene Bødker
Sculpture: Worthy, Walking Stone and Slice of Something Bigger, 2022
Glass.
Various dimensions.

These glass sculptures express a close relationship with nature and reference the interconnectivity between evolution and natural features of the landscape. The works have been created using a lost wax technique and cast with a carefully planned and controlled use of colour to create different levels of opacity throughout. This manipulation of light is further explored by creating contrasting matt and smooth areas across the surface of the works by using several different hand-finishing techniques, including grinding, chiselling and polishing, to create a tactile, nodular texture that demonstrates
the artistic possibilities of glass.
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Woosun Cheon
Vase: Open Vase0622, 2022
Nickel silver and copper.
47 x 46 x 45 cm

This modern interpretation of a jar combines a traditional form with contemporary aesthetics to produce an object which straddles the boundary between the functional and decorative. Created from nickel silver wire that has been welded together and soldered with silver in delicate cross sections, each plane overlaps to produce a complex arrangement and is finished by sandblasting and hand sanding to create a smooth finish.
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Keeryong Choi
Vessel: Daam Dah 2022, 2022
Glass and 23.5kt gold leaf.
27 x 26 x 35 cm each

These opaque glass vessels compound expectations by combining both Korean and British sensibilities, resulting in a work that feels familiar yet refuses to be placed. Choi created the work to speak to his experience of moving from Korea to the UK, his nostalgia for home and to challenge the notion of cultural authenticity. The vessels’ form was created using 3D modelling software and 3D printing. By using small frit-size glass and skipping bubble soaking during the firing process, Choi deliberately created small cavities on the surface, often regarded as an imperfection in glass making. These were then inlaid with gold leaf, contrasting with the vessels’ glossy surface, to evoke a celestial starry sky and to celebrate the imperfections and beauty of these unique objects.
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Giorgi Danibegashvili
Sculpture: Naked, 2022
Silk and handmade paper
16 x 14 x 18 cm

This sculptural object is inspired by the texture and form of trees and explores the unique properties of two materials: handmade paper and silk fibres. The tension between their material delicacy and the construction of a solid form has been pushed to the extreme through a sensitive negotiation. The object’s lightness is achieved through the suspension of paper fibres in pigmented liquid to create translucent layers that are painstakingly built up. The simple shape and softly undulating surface are contrasted by a surprising use of colour, capturing the light and creating different shades on a velvety surface, reflecting the idea of metamorphosis.
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Maina Devi
Object: Lehrata-Khet, 2022
Wool.
91 x 304 x 1 cm

This rug revives an ancient, 2,400-year-old carpet-making tradition in Rajasthan, which has been replaced by the commercial industry. This handwoven rug has been created using over 200,000 asymmetrical Persian knots from hand-spun sheep wool and bamboo silk. In contrast to commercially produced rugs, it was created without predefined drawings, giving the maker the freedom to express themselves directly on the loom. The work’s title translates to ‘a waving farm’, and this abstract view of the maker’s village and surrounding fields includes delicate details such as motifs of grains and vegetables.
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Nathalie Doyen
Sculpture: Pays Cabi, 2022
Stoneware coloured with oxides and pigments and natural cupules of acorns.
37 x 35 x 38 cm

This large, globular ceramic work appears at first to be a textile work created from a patchwork of different materials, with white and red piping delineating each section. At its centre is stoneware coloured with cobalt oxide and turquoise stain. In a process taking over five months to complete, tiny balls of clay have been painstakingly rolled and flattened by hand, then pricked with a needle to produce a textured surface, which conveys a sense of sumptuous tactility akin to velvet.
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Dong Han
Sculpture: Rebirth, 2022
Bronze.
53 x 67 x 40 cm

This beautiful example of bronze casting uses ancient Chinese techniques to create a sculpture resembling a giant piece of jade. Wood has first been hand-carved into a smooth, organic shape before being cast in molten bronze. The smooth, highly tactile surface is decorated with a rich patina that recalls Chinese landscape painting.
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Kenji Honma
Sculpture: Contours of Past 2022, 2022
Japanese lacquer tree wood, lacquer (Urushi), polishing powder.
42.5 x 29 x 63.3 cm

Balancing age-old Japanese traditions with new self-taught techniques, this unique vessel is created using salvaged wood from an ancient Japanese lacquer tree. The trunk has been hollowed out, and the base is fitted with a bottom plate. Inside, the surface has been skilfully worked to create a smooth finish, whereas the outside has been meticulously shaped but still retains the original characteristics and marks of the bark, evidence of the harsh winters the tree endured during its lifetime. Hand-harvested lacquer, collected during a brief window between the summer and autumn, has been applied to its surface.
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Wanbing Huang
Sculpture: The Entrophy Reduction of Hundun, 2022
Hemp fibres (China grass cloth) and steel
55 x 100 x 130 cm each

This sophisticated sculptural work uses ramie fibres to create a work on an expressive scale. Inspired by Chinese grass cloth weaving techniques, the egg-shaped hanging installation recalls an ancient Chinese myth that the breaking of Hundun was the origin of the world. Radial circles of fine knitting and weaving are layered to create the intricate inner structure and this delicate use of the material is contrasted with a course-dense exterior, which has been created by distressing the ramie fibre.
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Maki Imoto
Sculpture: Torus of Powdered, 2022
Powdered glass and piece of transparent glass
56 x 21 x 56 cm

This large yet fragile work explores the limits of glass. Created using a torus-shaped plaster mould which has been filled with powdered glass and then fired in the kiln, the resulting work is thin and hollow with areas of cracking, shrinking, and dripping on its surface. These material transformations are a visual trace of heat as it emerges and transforms the glass, a process that must be carefully controlled to prevent the brittle structure from breaking.
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Eriko Inazaki
Sculpture: Metanoia, 2019
Ceramic
20 x 20 x 24 cm

This delicate work transcends the expectations of hand-crafted ceramics and has been painstakingly created using hundreds of minuscule components. Taking over a year to complete, the complexity has been achieved by layering and arranging these small yet intricate forms and fixing them to a clay core before firing them in the kiln. The fragility of its tiny component pieces imbues the work with a magical quality. Their careful composition creates a sense of bursting, radiant energy across the work’s surface, evoking a symphony. This work demonstrates an essential balance between technical excellence and artistry.
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Inchin Lee
Vessel: Large Vessel (faceted), 2019
Clay
50 x 50 x 45 cm

This vessel shows a deep understanding of clay and how it can be manipulated to transform its properties. Drawing on ancient Korean techniques and methods, the vessel has been thrown on the wheel to first create a smooth exterior and then, through a series of precise carvings and cuts, it has been skilfully shaped into a faceted geometric surface. Firing in a wood-fuelled kiln has created different textures across its surface and enhanced the natural colours of the clay to complement the vessel’s sloping planes.
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Jaiik Lee
Vessel: Transition VII, 2022
Copper, porcelain colour and gold leaf
52.7 x 52.7 x 59.2 cm

Based on a traditional Korean moon jar, this voluminous vessel updates the ceramic tradition by transposing it to metalwork. It has been created by spot welding sheets of copper plate, which have then been coated with porcelain to create a richly coloured surface. Its undulating organic form creates a sense of buckling and swelling, as though the vessel is expanding. Welding tracks on the surface reveal the repeated actions that have led to the object’s creation.
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Kyouhong Lee
Object: Trace of Time, 2022
Glass, traditional lacquer and gold leaf
8 x 46 x 46 cm

This highly experimental work combines materials in unexpected ways. Inspired by ceramic traditions, here, glass has been used as if it was clay. The disc-like form, with a small circular cut out, has been cast in glass and then finished using a traditional ottchil lacquer technique, decorated with gold leaf and then fired in the kiln. The resulting work is a study of mass and volume which can only be achieved by utilising the specific properties of glass.
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Liam Lee
Sculpture: Chair 11, 2022
Felted merino wool and poplar plywood
53 x 61 x 107 cm

Lee’s chair re-envisages the ubiquitous functional object as a fantastical sculptural form. Here the domestic interior is transformed into a microcosm of the natural world, referencing fungi, seeds, coral and biological pathogens. Starting with a simple poplar frame, Lee has harnessed wool needle-felting as a sculptural tool, slowly building the surface of the chair over several months to achieve a rigid, incredibly dense structure. The striking forms of the work are further enhanced using bold colours, created by hand-dying merino wool. The chair is both functional yet provocative and strange, unsettling the supposed security of the domestic space.
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Claire Lindner
Object: Buisson n°2, 2021
Glazed stoneware
39 x 30 x 44 cm

Vibrant in both form and colour, this dynamic sculptural object has been crafted using a post-war plaster leaf mould from Vallauris, a region in France known for its pottery. Slabs of stoneware have been stamped into the mould, carefully twisted and distorted, and then intuitively joined together to create a large unfurling organic shape, a playful nod to 18th-century lettuce ware. The work has then been sprayed with fine layers of glaze, using a gradient of colours from green to red, evocative of both vegetation and incandescent flames.
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Kristin McKirdy
Object: Untitled, 2018, 2018
Earthenware clay, glaze and terra sigillata, various dimensions

Comprising two parts, this formal yet conceptual work celebrates the possibilities of ceramic surfaces and is inspired by both natural and man-made forms. Deliberately ambiguous, its shape could be a reference to pieces of a children’s game or a sign of warning reminiscent of a buoy or explosive device. The work is constructed using a variety of techniques, from wheel-throwing to coil-building, and the surfaces are each given a different finish. The rough pattern-burnished exterior contrasts with the smooth satin and glazed surfaces in black and red, which have been finished with terra sigillata or ceramic glazes and fired in an electric kiln, further underscoring the unsettling suggestion of tension between safety, danger and destruction in work.
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Luz Pinart Moreno
Wall piece: El Retiro, 2022
Paper and paint
1 x 70 x 70 cm

This meditative work has been created by knotting thin strands of paper, using techniques Moreno Pinart learned during an artist residency in Kyoto. The result is an interconnected web, where each knot represents a moment in her life. The title of the work references the main park in central Madrid, a place for reflection and quiet contemplation. Each paper knot has then been dyed red to denote the significance of the memory, and the long, thin strands of paper connecting them resemble a flower’s stamen, which contains the plant’s pollen, representing life and growth.
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Shinji Nakaba
Piece: Rose Branch, 2019
Pearl, aluminium and stainless steel
6 x 15 x 4 cm

Shards of pearl have been threaded onto a strong stainless-steel wire and then carved to create the shape of a twisting rose branch punctuated with aluminium-tipped thorns. The pearls selected for the work are of a lower grade than used in standard jewellery practice, yet by carving them and using them as structural components, the unique qualities, strength and ephemeral beauty of the material are showcased.
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Mabel Pena
Piece: Wetlands, 2021
Recycled polyethylene bags, 3D filament and ink
56 x 43 x 8 cm

This wearable piece of jewellery explores humanity’s relationship with the natural world and highlights the vital importance of preserving specialised ecosystems. Created using recycled polythene bags which have been manipulated in different ways to create various textures, the work is a scenographic representation of the wetlands in Latin America. The wetlands play an important role in maintaining biodiversity and flood management, and the necklace documents their struggle to survive due to human impact.
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Ai Shikanji
Object: Reflection, 2022
Lacquer, thread, washi, gold powder, silver powder, tin powder, grinding powder and gold leaf
64 x 64 x 22 cm

Fine strands of thread, solidified in lacquer and gilded with gold, silver and tin using the Makie-technique, have been layered to create this work. The metallic coatings reflect the light with varying intensities to create a gentle sense of movement, further enhanced by the undulating pattern of the strands. This work utilises a new technique based on the historic kanshitsu dry lacquer tradition, but here instead of draping a single piece of cloth over a surface, many threads have been used, resulting
in an object where lacquer is integral to its structure rather than used solely as a finish.
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Helium Shin
Brooch: As Time Goes Rain Falls — Plane, 2021
Canvas, silver, lacquer and acrylic paint, various dimensions

This set of wearable brooches has been created by furling, and rolling canvas cuts to develop layered and intricate pieces. The rolled canvas is treated with lacquer and then repeatedly sanded to create smooth edges before being fixed onto a thin metal plate. The canvas at the centre is left exposed and then painted in thin layers, akin to sediment accumulating and marking the passage of time.
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Prue Venables
Vessel: Black Triangulated Form, 2022
Limoges porcelain and black glaze
17 x 22.5 x 15 cm

This hand-thrown Limoges porcelain vessel is a beautiful study in space and movement within the form. The porcelain’s yielding flexibility has been daringly manipulated with skill and precision to create a gently twisting shape with opposing triangular geometry. The finished work has a sense of harmony, elegance and surprise and is finished with a rich satin-like black glaze.
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Jana Visser
Wall piece: In the Almost, 2021
Linen, paper and mohair yarn with viscose and monofilament
165 x 108 x 2 cm
The cyclical passage of breath through the body and its relationship to the rhythmic, repetitive gestures of weaving was the inspiration behind this textile wall-hanging. Partly woven on an industrial jacquard loom, the work uses both hand techniques and mechanical processes. Once removed from the loom, the textile has been hand manipulated, unravelled and reworked in places to create a variation of texture and to expose the underlying structure of the work, as well as the relationship and tension between warp and weft.
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Moe Watanabe
Vessel: Transfer Surface, 2023
Walnut bark
37 x 40 x 37 cm

This simple yet powerful box is made from walnut bark collected from the Tohoku region of Japan. The bark has been stripped and then moulded to create a simple box shape made from one large strip, showing a fantastic understanding and respect for the material in its manipulation. Overlapping at the side, the bark is secured with simple stitches to hold it in place, and its shape recalls the Japanese tradition of Ikebana vases. The box’s simplicity of form allows the respect of the material and the direct nature of the wood to come to the fore.
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Dominique Zinkpè
Object: The Watchers, 2022
Wood and acrylic
148 x 133 x 23 cm

This assemblage features intricately detailed wooden statuettes carved from individual pieces of solid wood and placed within a wooden frame crafted from an old canoe. Drawing on the Yoruba belief that twins hold special significance and powers, each figurine recalls the tradition of families creating an Ibéji doll when a twin dies in infancy. The doll comes to represent the soul of the deceased in physical form so it can continue to be cared for on earth. Each statuette has been finely carved with individual details, then hand-painted with washes of pink and orange, a subtle yet profound reminder of the uniqueness of every individual.
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Kaori Juzu
Installation: 108 Points of View, 2021
Enamel, glass, copper, 18kt gold, patinated Shakudo, bi-colour metal
70 x 70 x 3.5 cm
Photo by: Anders Beier

108 small-scale sculptures of wearable jewellery are presented in this tableau which showcases a variety of enamelling techniques. The work is inspired by the significance of the number 108 in Buddhism, with temples in China and Japan tolling their bells 108 times at midnight on New Year’s Eve as a ritual of purification. The pieces of jewellery are created from remnants of previous projects and take simple abstract forms. In contrast to traditional enamelling techniques, here, the melting process has been disrupted to create areas of high contrast across the surfaces.
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