The Ceramics Room. Photo: Courtesy of Loewe Foundation
A highly anticipated, internationally recognized award, the annual craft prize launched by the Loewe Foundation is open for applications. Arab artists around the world are encouraged to submit their works for the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2022. The fifth edition will accept submissions until October 25, 2021. Last year’s edition received some 3000 submissions from 107 countries across the globe. The winner of the 2021 prize was textile artist Fanglu Lin.
Launched in 2016, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize celebrates excellence, innovation, and originality in contemporary craftsmanship. The winner receives a cash prize of 50,000 Euros. Conceived by Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson, the prize incentive stems from the Spanish house’s own beginnings in 1846 as a collective craft workshop. “Craft is always going to be modern,” states Anderson. “It is about creating objects that have a formula of their own and speak their own language, creating a dialogue that didn’t exist before. It is about newness as much as it is about tradition.” Encouraging applications, Anderson tells Vogue Arabia, “The Craft Prize is getting bigger and bigger bit by bit, and we’re getting more and more exposure and more and more applicants. I think my biggest thing to say is that we would like more people to apply and not be scared of the prize. I think it’s important to apply. We have some parts of the world where we have huge amounts of applications, some parts where we have none, and some parts where we have just a few. I think it’s about word of mouth; this is a globally open prize. It’s about word of mouth and getting people to encourage one another to apply for the prize.”
The Craft Prize 2022 edition will select 30 works by an expert panel of artists, artisans, essayists, curators, and designers including the likes of Olivier Gabet, Director of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and Abraham Thomas, Curator of Modern Architecture, Design, and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The pieces will be on exhibition in Seoul, South Korea in the spring of 2022 in anticipation of the selected winning piece.
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