Jongjin Park wins Loewe Craft Prize 2026

There was an air of excitement in Singapore this evening (12 May 2026) as Spanish brand Loewe announced South Korean artist and ceramicist Jongjin Park as the winner of its annual Craft Prize at a ceremony in the National Gallery.

Park, whose slumped seat-like form was selected for its ‘sculptural presence’ and ‘ability to confound expectations of what ceramics can be’, receives the silver trophy and a €50,000 prize, while two special mentions, Baba Tree Master Weavers with Álvaro Catalán de Ocón and Italian jewellery designer Graziano Visintin, each receive €5,000.

For the 30 finalists, hailing from 19 countries and regions, just making it to this point in the competition is a dream come true: they were each chosen from a staggeringly large pool of 5,100 entrants – up from 4,600 last year – by a panel of 12 experts, who convened for two days in Madrid to create the shortlist.

‘I think the result of being a finalist is that somebody acknowledges what you do and accepts it as being valid in a way,’ says Danish ceramicist and finalist Morten Løbner Espersen, whose cylindrical glazed stoneware vessel was informed by the Copenhagen cityscape. ‘It’s important to have this as an artist or craftsperson – a pat on your back, as if to say: “Just go on, you’re not far off.”’

In the museum, the works are displayed on brightly coloured plinths, ranging significantly in size and technique, from the imposing scale of Nobuyuki Tanaka’s glossy black lacquer hemp vessel to Adelene Koh’s intricate paper sculpture that employs an English style of bookbinding from the 18th and 19th century. The winners were decided by a panel of 14 judges – including design critic Deyan Sudjic, designer Patricia Urquiola, architect Frida Escobedo and Met Museum curator Abraham Thomas.

Loewe Craft Prize 2026 inner, Jongjin Park

Loewe creative directors Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough joined the Craft Prize jury for the first time this year, following the departure of Jonathan Anderson, the prize’s longtime champion and mastermind. ‘It was really interesting getting together with these jury members because they all come from such different backgrounds,’ McCollough said. ‘One person might be judging something based on the way it’s constructed, whereas another jury member might be looking more at the cultural significance of the work.’

However, despite these differing viewpoints, Park’s piece was a unanimous decision from the outset. ‘We were fascinated by the technique specifically,' said Hernandez. 'We had never seen this idea of porcelain and paper coming together – it’s such an odd, strange materiality.’

Made using an innovative slip casting technique that replicates the process of sedimentation, Park’s rectilinear seat is made from folded, porcelain-slip-coated paper. After drying, the form is fired, burning away the paper layers and leaving a single ceramic body. Natural creases, compressions and shifts have been retained on the surface during shaping, creating a patchwork-like surface of shifting colour and texture.

Runners-up Baba Tree Master Weavers in collaboration with Álvaro Catalán de Ocón won the judges over with their ‘Fra Fra Tapestry #2’ – a monumental, communally woven elephant-grass textile that depicts overhead drone imagery of circular adobe housing in Ghana’s Gurunsi region.

Graziano Visintin’s geometric necklaces are made using a melting and moulding technique that can be traced back to the Ancient Egyptians. Minuscule metal sheets are folded, welded and partially decorated with niello before being melted into a clay pot with sulphur – a recipe used by Theophilus, a 12th-century Benedictine monk. Layered together with cubes constructed from thin gold sheets, the result is goldsmithing in its noblest form.

Loewe and craft: a love story

Craft has become something of a buzzword in the luxury design and fashion sphere, as brands clamour to talk about it in an effort to convey cultural clout. Following a Milan Design Week where every major brand, from fashion to tech to automotive, adopted craft as part of their marketing language, it’s easy to feel cynical about the intention.

At Loewe, however, the connection to craft runs deeper. ‘Loewe’s love story with craft is unquestionable,’ Sheila Loewe tells Wallpaper*. Founded by her great-great-grandfather, the craftsman Enrique Loewe Roessberg, in 1846, Loewe began its life as a specialised leather workshop focusing on high-quality leather goods such as purses, wallets and cigarette cases.

The foundation was started in 1988, two years after LVMH bought the rights to international distribution – it acquired full control of Loewe in 1996. It wasn’t until 2016 that the Loewe Craft Prize came into existence under the brand’s former creative director and champion of craft, Jonathan Anderson.

‘I welcome it if it’s good for craft,’ Loewe says of the influx of luxury brands embracing the term. ‘If it is helping the craft world, I’m super happy – but not if it’s just to make profit off it.’

One of the aims of the Loewe Foundation is to broaden the reach of the prize by bringing it to cities where, the brand says, there is growing interest in contemporary craft, such as Singapore. ‘The next generation is very interested,’ finalist and Singaporean artist Adelene Koh told Wallpaper*. ‘But there’s a lack of mentorship. The general public are not very aware of contemporary craft.’ The Loewe Prize coming to Singapore, she adds, ‘is a very good opportunity for young Singaporeans to see that craft can belong within this landscape’.

Preserving craft for the future

Threat of extinction and lack of opportunity for the next generation was a shared concern for many of the artists we spoke to from all corners of the globe. In the UK, Jobe Burns, whose vast monolithic ‘Laying Vessel’ sculpture – rusted steel on the outside and lacquered red within – was made in collaboration with craftsmen in a factory in Walsall, England that specialises in large industrial metal-forming.

‘It’s an industry that’s disappearing,’ he told us. ‘Which is partly why the vessel is lying down – it represents that exhaustion. The craftsmen I work with are all specialists, and they’re all in their forties or older. And now, their industries have been outsourced elsewhere.’

Through his work, Burns hopes to draw attention to their skill and expertise. 'My practice as a whole is really birthed from the notion of labour, I reference the tradesman in same way I reference artists,' he adds.

Similarly, Lagos-based Nigerian artist Fadekemi Ogunsanya uses a Yoruba resist dyeing method known as adire eleko, where canvas starch made from yams is used to draw patterns onto fabric with a feather quill. The fabric is sent to Kano in Northern Nigeria where it is dyed in the centuries-old indigo dye pits of Kofar Mata. It is subsequently embroidered and hand-beaded to accentuate the lines of the patterns.

‘Unfortunately, it’s kind of dying out,’ Ogunsanya told Wallpaper*. ‘Most of the time now it’s stencil or stamping patterns, no longer the freehand drawing. That’s why it’s really important to share knowledge and document and advance the craft.’

Others such as Soohyun Chou, whose bronze vessels are cast in 3D-printed moulds, see opportunities to push craft forward by incorporating new technology where appropriate. ‘I think new techniques are something we have to embrace,’ Chou said through a translator. ‘I want to bring the technique into my work, but as just a small portion of it.’

For Sheila Loewe, the Craft Prize is a chance to tell these stories to the world, giving artists and craftspeople a global platform. ‘Craft is about our cultural heritage,’ she says. ‘There are very important skills that have already been lost forever. When they are lost, it’s too late. At Loewe, we are all in love with craft, and we want to make it contagious.’

All 30 of the shortlisted works will be exhibited at National Gallery Singapore from 13 May until 14 June 2026.

Applications for the 2027 Loewe Craft Prize open in June 2026 and is open to anyone over 18 years of age working in a craft-based profession.

loewe.com