30 finalists of the Loewe Craft Prize revealed
‘The level is crazy this year,’ remarks Jonathan Anderson in a recent chat with Wallpaper*. He was referring to the outstanding quality in this year’s applicants of the second iteration of the Loewe Craft Prize that the British creative director inaugurated last year to ‘help modernist craft and make it more accessible’. This year, 30 finalists have been chosen from across the globe who show innovative expertise in working with materials from textile and paper to ceramics and metal. These will go on show at London’s Design Museum from 3 May, when a jury that includes Anderson, Patricia Urquiola and last year’s winner Ernst Gamperl will select the winner...

Anderson notes that there is a recurring ‘idea of the vessel’ in this year’s work, in both ceramic and woodwork. Pictured: ‘Raining Stones’, ceramics.

‘Barkskin’, ceramics

‘Many candidates from Korea and Spain are showing how you explore textile in a modernist way.’ adds Anderson. Pictured: ‘Matrix III Time, Space, Human’, textiles

‘Pale, shadowed speckled traces’, ceramics

‘Object from “The Earthenweare Fer”’, Ceramics

‘Hangzhou’ stool, furniture

‘Third Time Rainfall’, other

‘Arbitrary Metrics II’, paper

Anderson also notes the wealth of wood candidates this year, ‘something very interesting and organic.’ Pictured: ‘Singularity’, wood

‘Waterwork I’, ceramics

‘Five Color Vessels 0831’, lacquer

‘Container’, ceramics

‘Tears in the Sunset’, glass

‘homage to the tree’, wood

‘Bench’, wood

‘bowl made of copper / elastic sh’, metal

‘Shrouded Furnace 5’, ceramics

‘Scalaria Bifurca’, textiles

‘Searching for solid ground’, jewellery

‘Mokume-gane Vase’, metal

‘Frozen/Se[e/a]/Look’, jewellery

‘Variations of a Stitched Cube’, textiles

‘Folds of memory’, jewellery

‘Sei wo haramu (Filling with sile)’, glass

‘CRAQUELURE’, jewellery

‘Croissance XL (XL Growth)’, textiles

‘New Medicine’, glass

‘Tea Bowl’, ceramics

‘Qingbai Gold Bowl’, ceramics

‘100 Foot Drain/Annie’s Wood’, wood