Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson on exalting and reimagining the Welsh stick chair at Milan Design Week
‘Loewe Chairs’ saw the designer look to a longtime fascination – the humble Welsh stick chair, here reimagined in a raft of colourful and inventive new ways by world artisans
![A reimagined Welsh stick chair, part of ‘Loewe Chairs’ at Milan Design Week 2023](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/VNQi2xFUd3hQkdRXpS5Hag-415-80.jpg)
If Loewe’s creative director Jonathan Anderson has a knack of predicting the next cult craze – and he does – then it’s time to acquire a Welsh stick chair.
‘Usually for me, there’s something I’m into, and then it suddenly becomes a thing,’ laughs the designer at the opening of the fashion house’s Milan Design Week 2023 installation in Milan’s Palazzo Isimbardi, surrounded by 30 of the wooden seats that have been transformed by expert weavers around the world.
‘Obsessed by their incredible design’, the designer himself has been collecting the structures for the last 15 years and estimates the current count to be around 20. When it came to thinking of a theme for this year’s Design Week, they were an obvious choice.
‘Loewe Chairs’ at Milan Design Week 2023
The project featured unexpected materials, like emergency survival blankets
‘I started to think about how we can use them as a canvas, fusing the past and the present and looking at design in a different way,’ he explains of the project, ‘Loewe Chairs’ (one of our favourite fashion happenings of Milan Design Week 2023). It has resulted in materials including leather, wool, shearling, paper and foil intricately entwined around the bars, arms and legs of rare examples that Anderson and his team sourced from auctions for the show, as well as from the Carmarthenshire-based specialist Tim Bowen. Eight new Lloyd Loom chairs were made by the Belgian company Vincent Sheppard.
Drawn to the chairs’ domestic simplicity, Anderson says he cherishes knowing that something has been made by someone and has a purpose as opposed to exalting an industrial design object.
Another ‘Loewe Chair’ design
‘There’s something emotional when you sit on something and you use it,’ he explains, citing Kettle’s Yard founder Jim Ede as having a big influence on his appreciation of functional objects. ‘It’s this idea of how do we engage with things? How do we look at art? How do we touch things? Why do we buy craft? Why do we use it? I like things that are functional because then I think they become a part of you.’
The project gave Loewe the opportunity to work again with many of the artisans it has collaborated with in the past and promote their skills. Galicia-based Idoia Cuesta, who has worked with the brand on previous Milan Design Week projects, was one of the artisans who worked on the stick chairs woven in silver and gold foil derived from emergency survival blankets and cords of leather, which took 40 and 50 hours to complete respectively. ‘My passion is to study different materials and to experiment with new weaving techniques and I think the art of weaving brings beauty to the structure of these chairs,’ she tells Wallpaper*.
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
An artisan works on one of the designs
Anderson says that since he views his role as creative director as ‘ultimately [about] curating things that I have to sell you’ he decided to use that approach to help promote people in the process.
‘Loewe is not a taking process, it’s give and take and that’s what I love about this project,’ he says. ‘The silent craftsman is one of the most elusive things; these individuals we work with, we hero them and we talk about them, but it’s not because they are a name – that’s not what it’s about. It’s about saying, this person is a discovery for you.’
With craft in its various forms finding increasing favour with fashion brands, credibility is key to creating something meaningful, says Anderson.
The ‘Loewe Chairs’ installation at Milan’s Palazzo Isimbardi
‘If there is authenticity, then great. I think sometimes it can get a little bit sanitised,’ he says. ‘For me, you have to love craft and it’s not just about saying “we craft a bag”, it has to be a holistic thing. I think that’s what we’ve tried to do over the last ten years and why we built the Loewe Craft Prize, because using the human hand to make things ultimately [requires] a scholarly approach and you have to dedicate yourself to it.’
As for more crystal ball predictions, early 18th-century British woodwork and furniture is on Anderson’s radar. ‘I feel like it’s really undervalued,’ he says. ‘My challenge at the moment is how do I take that by pairing it to make young people enjoy it? There’s so much of it in Britain. I haven’t figured it out yet, but it’s about how do you twist it and display it and articulate it to switch the lens on it.’
Scarlett Conlon a freelance journalist and consultant specialising in fashion, design and lifestyle. Before relocating to Italy, she held roles as deputy fashion editor at The Guardian and Observer and news editor at British Vogue in London. She is currently a regular contributor Wallpaper* Magazine among other prominent international fashion and design titles.
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
‘Things are not what they seem’: Unpacking the S/S 2025 menswear shows
Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss explores the trends and takeaways from this season’s menswear shows, from an embrace of ‘irrational clothing’ to couture-level craft and eclectic new takes on tailoring
By Jack Moss Published
-
Revisiting the showstopping runway sets of men’s fashion week
As Men’s Fashion Week S/S 2025 draws to a close, Wallpaper* picks the season’s most transporting runway sets, from giant cats at Dior Men to a ‘fairytale ravescape’ at Prada
By Jack Moss Published
-
Martine Rose on her disruptive Milan Fashion Week debut: ’you have to do what you believe in’
British designer Martine Rose speaks to Wallpaper* about shaking up Milan Fashion Week with her disruptive, subculture-infused menswear
By Joe Bobowicz Published
-
‘Yohji Yamamoto: Letter to the Future’ celebrates the designer’s timeless, anti-trend approach
‘Yohji Yamamoto: Letter to the Future’ at Milan’s 10 Corso Como is a rare exhibition of the seminal Japanese designer’s work. Curator Alessio de’ Navasques gives Wallpaper* a tour
By Joe Bobowicz Published
-
Tennis fashion for serving a style ace this summer
As Wimbledon begins on Monday (1 July 2024), the fashion brands serving up tennis style this summer, from Gucci’s 1970s-inspired capsule collection to a Loewe T-shirt from ‘Challengers’
By Jack Moss Last updated
-
Met Gala 2024 and ‘Sleeping Beauties’ exhibition: what to expect
Everything Wallpaper* knows about the Met Gala 2024 this evening (6 May 2024) – from the theme, exhibition and dress code to the A-list co-chairs
By Jack Moss Last updated
-
Utilitarian men’s fashion that will elevate your everyday
From Prada to Margaret Howell, utilitarian and workwear-inspired men’s fashion gets an upgrade for S/S 2024
By Jack Moss Published
-
Loewe’s Jonathan Anderson drafts artists to create 24 extraordinary lamps at Milan Design Week 2024
Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson commissioned international artists and artisans to explore ‘illumination within the house’ with a series of lamps and lighting installations, shown at a group exhibition at Milan Design Week 2024
By Scarlett Conlon Published