Loewe Foundation announced the names of the 30 shortlisted artists for the 2023 edition of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize. Each finalist’s work will be exhibited in Isamu Noguchi’s Studio at The Noguchi Museum in New York from 17 May until 18 June 2023.
The sixth edition of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize presents a selection of works that explore meditative, time-intensive techniques and skillful manipulation of materials. Unexpected forms and colors also feature in this year’s shortlist, introducing a sense of playfulness and surprise. The use of trompe l’oeil techniques in many of the works further confounds viewers’ expectations; on first look they appear to be made from one material and on closer inspection are revealed to be another entirely. Many of the works presented in this year’s shortlist also examine the relationship between light, material and surface, with an expert handling of materials and form used to transform the reflective properties of the works and to create a sense of movement.
This year’s finalists were chosen by a panel of experts from over 2,700 submissions by artisans representing 117 countries and regions. The finalists selected represent 16 countries and work across a range of mediums including ceramics, woodwork, textiles, furniture, paper, basketry, glass, metal, jewelry lacquer, leather and bookbinding. In their deliberations, the panel sought to identify the most outstanding works in terms of technical accomplishment, skills, innovation and artistic vision.
The annual prize was launched by the Loewe Foundation in 2016 to celebrate excellence, artistic merit and innovation in modern craftsmanship. The award, which was conceived by creative director Jonathan Anderson, aims to acknowledge the importance of craft in today’s culture and to recognize artists whose talent, vision and will to innovate promise to set a new standard for the future. The prize was conceived as a tribute to Loewe’s beginnings as a collective craft workshop in 1846.
The 30 finalist’s work for the 2023 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize will go on display in Isamu Noguchi’s Studio at The Noguchi Museum. The 2023 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize will be the first time a public exhibition has been staged in the space. Purchased by Noguchi in 1961, his Long Island City Studio was the center of his artistic practice in the United States during the last decades of his life. The studio is also the reason he purchased the empty 1929 factory building across the street, where he eventually established his eponymous museum. The legacy of the exhibition will be documented by a catalogue containing each of the finalists’ pieces.
Previous iterations of the prize have been exhibited at Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM), Madrid (2017); The Design Museum, London (2018); Isamu Noguchi’s indoor stone garden ‘Heaven’ at the Sogetsu Kaikan, Tokyo (2019); digitally in a joint presentation with Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (2021) and at Seoul Museum of Craft Art (SeMoCA), Seoul (2022).
Jonathan Anderson stated at the award’s inception, ‘Craft is the essence of Loewe. As a house, we are about craft in the purest sense of the word. That is where our modernity lies, and it will always be relevant.’
Regarding the selection process, Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, Executive Secretary of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize Experts Panel, said: ‘On the sixth edition, we have felt that, with the Prize character established, we ought to open doors. And therefore, we are happy to have been able to further expose the notion of craft with artistic ambition by analyzing non-western cannon aesthetics as well as by approaching figurative craft’.
A jury composed of 13 leading figures from the world of design, architecture, journalism, criticism and museum curatorship will select the winner of the 2023 Craft Prize. The prize awarded to the winner is 50,000 Euros and the announcement will be made on 16 May 2023, at the opening of the Craft Prize 2023 exhibition at The Noguchi Museum.
The selected finalists for the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2023 are (in alphabetical order, with nationality): Ai Shikanji (Japan), Aranda\Lasch & Terrol Dew Johnson (United States), Claire Lindner (France),, Dominique Zinkpè (Benin), Dong Han (People’s Republic of China), Eriko Inazaki (Japan), Giorgi Danibegashvili (Georgia), Healim Shin (Republic of Korea), Inchin Lee (Republic of Korea), Jaiik Lee (Republic of Korea), Jana Visser (South Africa), Johannes Kuhnen (Australia) ,Kaori Juzu (Denmark), Keeryoung Choi (United Kingdom), Kenji Honma (Japan), Kristin McKirdy (France), Kyouhong Lee (Republic of Korea), Lene Bødker (Denmark), Liam Lee (United States), Luz Moreno Pinart (Spain), Mabel Irene Pena (Argentina), Maina Devi (India), Maki Imoto (Japan), Moe Watanabe (Japan), Nathalie Doyen (Belgium), Prue Venables (Australia), Shinji Nakaba (Japan), Tanya Aguiñiga (United States), Wanbing Huang (People’s Republic of China), Woosun Cheon (Republic of Korea)