Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2026: the shortlist

Loewe Craft prize, colourful book binding — Adelene Koh’s ‘Endless’ reimagines the concealed endband of a book as sculpture

(Image credit: Loewe)

Once a year, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize offers a reminder of what the human hand can do – and how far contemporary making can stretch tradition. Thirty finalists have been named for the 2026 edition, spanning ceramics, textiles, furniture, metalwork, lacquer and glass. The works will be shown at the National Gallery Singapore from 13 May – 14 June 2026, with the winner announced on 12 May.

Loewe Craft Prize, black glass sculpture — Liam Fleming's anamorphic glass sculpture is made using the traditional Venetian glassblowing technique, incalmo

The 2026 jury will be chaired by the Loewe Foundation president Sheila Loewe and includes leading figures from the design, architecture and museum worlds – Frida Escobedo, Deyan Sudjic and Patricia Urquiola are among them – with Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez joining for the first time as Loewe’s creative directors.

Loewe Craft Prize, hand knitted cotton thread vessels — These three ambitiously scaled vessels by Norwegian artist Gjertrud Hals have been hand-knitted in white cotton-linen thread on a custom-built knitting ring before being coloured by hand with reactive textile dyes

Selected from more than 5,100 submissions from across 133 countries and regions – with the Republic of Korea the most represented, contributing six artists across disciplines – the shortlisted works sit between balance and rupture, pairing inherited techniques with contemporary intervention. What unites them is an extraordinary command of material: a level of skill that pushes the limits of what seems possible.

Loewe Craft Prize, tall wooden column held together by 120 twisted copper wires — Swedish sculptor Oskar Gustafsson's tall wooden column has been constructed from 36 end-grain sheets of ash, each steam-bent and held together by 120 twisted copper wires

The Craft Prize was launched in 2016 by the Loewe Foundation as a tribute to the Spanish brand's beginnings as a collective craft workshop in 1846, and as a way to highlight the importance of craft in today’s culture. Any professional artisan aged over 18 can apply for the award, with the sole requirement that the submitted work combines an innovative application of the featured craft with an original artistic concept.

Loewe Craft Prize entry, woven tapestry — The ‘Fra Fra Tapestry #2’ by Baba Tree Master Weavers in collaboration with Álvaro Catalán de Ocón is a monumental, communally woven elephant-grass textile that depicts overhead drone imagery of circular adobe housing in Ghana’s Gurunsi region

Among the compelling works is ‘Fra Fra Tapestry #2’ by Baba Tree Master Weavers × Álvaro Catalán de Ocón: a monumental, communally woven elephant-grass textile that translates overhead drone imagery of circular adobe housing in Ghana’s Gurunsi region into a graphic plan, then hands the 'interior' spaces back to the Ghanian weavers for pattern- and mark-making.

Loewe Craft Prize entry, steel vessel with red interior — Jobe Burns’ large-scale sculptural vessel was formed into a conical shape from a 3mm steel sheet, at a West Midlands factory

Among the UK contingent, Jobe Burns’ ‘Laying Vessel’ channels West Midlands manufacturing heritage via heavy metal-forming and chemical patination: a conical steel vessel with a lacquered red interior and rusted exterior reads like a 'human body after labour – emptied but alive, an image of both exhaustion and endurance'.

Loewe Craft Prize entry, bamboo structure — The structure and surface of Chia-Chen Hsieh's structure is crafted entirely from bamboo

Craft Prize entry, bamboo structure close-up — Thousands of specially treated, ultra-thin strips of bamboo have been curved, layered and suspended within the grid’s internal volume

The shortlist is particularly strong in works that use structure to create optical effects. Taiwanese artist Chia-Chen Hsieh’s ‘Rhythm in Grid’ suspends thousands of ultra-thin bamboo strips inside a cubic frame to generate a rippling spherical pattern – a precise feat of tension and curvature that reframes bamboo craft as spatial drawing.

Craft Prize entry, porcelain cast seat — Seoul-based Jongjin Park’s ‘Strata of Illusion’ builds a rectilinear seat from folded, porcelain-slip-coated paper

Loewe Craft Prize, ceramic seat made using slip-cast-coated folded paper — Natural creases, compressions and shifts have been retained on the surface during shaping. After drying, the form is fired burning away the paper layers and leaving a single ceramic body

Nearby in spirit, Seoul-based Jongjin Park’s ‘Strata of Illusion’ builds a rectilinear seat from folded, porcelain-slip-coated paper: after firing, the paper burns away, leaving a warped ceramic mass that records collapse as part of its architecture.

Craft Prize entry, colourful book binding — Using traditional 18th-century sewing techniques, Singaporean book artist Adelene Koh builds a circular form from thread and folded paper

More intimate in scale, Adelene Koh’s ‘Endless’ reimagines the concealed endband of a book as sculpture. Using traditional 18th-century sewing techniques, the Singaporean book artist builds a circular form from thread and folded paper, turning a hidden structural detail into an architectural object.

Loewe Craft Prize entry, ceramic work that appears like basketry — Inspired by traditional Zimbabwean Binga baskets, Xanthe Somers’ vessel is made using a woven-clay technique

In Xanthe Somers’ ‘The Caretaker’s Clotheshorse’, a coiled stoneware vessel slumps against its own internal frame, its woven-clay exterior referencing Zimbabwean basketry.

Textiles also carry narratives. Nigerian artist Fadekemi Ogunsanya’s quilt, ‘We Are Not Lying, Your Language is Not Enough’, combines Adire Eleko resist-dyeing (including work in Kano’s Kofar Mata indigo pits) with embroidery, beading and Yoruba script – a surface that treats cloth as both image and message.

Loewe Craft Prize entry, ceramic sculpture that appears like red silk. — Kyoto-based lacquer artist Nan Wei impregnates stretched leather with raw lacquer and then applies layers of layers of linen, scraped ash powder and lacquer to create this structure

Elsewhere, reinvention takes centre stage: Kyoto-based lacquer artist Nan Wei’s ‘Knot-Loving’ reworks the Japanese Shippi lacquer technique using leather, while Coco Sung’s ‘Shadow Kkokdu’ reimagines Korean funerary figures as small, talismanic characters built from clay, lacquer, wire and beadwork.

Craft Prize entry, clay dolls with beadwork — Coco Sung’s ‘Shadow Kkokdu’ reimagines Korean funerary figures as small, talismanic characters built from clay, lacquer, wire and beadwork

The winner will receive €50,000, with two special mentions awarded €5,000 each. This year also sees the Loewe Foundation partner with Belmond to launch three two-month residencies for selected artists at La Residencia in Mallorca. The countdown to May begins.

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Ali Morris is a UK-based editor, writer and creative consultant specialising in design, interiors and architecture. In her 16 years as a design writer, Ali has travelled the world, crafting articles about creative projects, products, places and people for titles such as Dezeen, Wallpaper* and Kinfolk.