Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2026

For its tenth anniversary, the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize took over the National Gallery in Singapore, presenting the works of thirty finalists selected by a panel of experts from the worlds of art, design and museum institutions from more than 5,000 international submissions.

Organised by the LOEWE FOUNDATION, independently from the fashion house itself, the prize welcomed Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, recently appointed Creative Directors of LOEWE, to its jury for the first time this year.

Gathered in Singapore, designers, architects, museum curators
and journalists convened on May 12th to select the winner and two special mentions, which, according to Sheila Loewe, President of the Foundation, demonstrate “how the most traditional crafts can be reinvented and inspire future generations”.

RECONSTRUCTED HISTORIES
Recipient of a Special Mention, the anthropological tapestry created by the Baba Tree Master Weavers collective and designer Alvaro Catalán de Ocón documents ritual practices deeply rooted in the Frafra communities of northern Ghana. Based on drone photography, the digital mapping of vernacular earthen architecture becomes the framework for a weaving made from locally sourced elephant grass. Using the traditional adire eleko indigo-dyeing technique, artist Fadekemi Ogunsanya’s quilt We Are Not Lying, Your Language Is Not Enough brings together motifs, symbols and inscriptions inherited from Nigerian culture, enriched through layers of embroidery and beadwork. Bookbinder Adelene Koh transforms her craft into sculptural form, turning the sewn edges of books into architectural structures.

Through the transposition of traditional skills, the metamorphosis of materials and a willingness to embrace risk, this edition of the Craft Prize illustrates what journalist and jury member Anatxu Zabalbeascoa describes as: “an increasingly nuanced expression of contemporary craft, where tradition, artistic vision, technological innovation and formal experimentation mutually enrich one another.” •

photos: Edifice, 500 x 760 x 800 mm, Glazed ceramic and stoneware, Susan Halls, United Kingdom, 2025 • © Piotr Niepsuj • Resonance, 210 x 530 x 690 mm, Cement, recycled glass powder, shredded cotton, wire and adhesive, Vivi Rosa, Brazil, 2024 • © Ilaria Orsini, • Knot-Loving, 190 x 230 x 250 mm, Lacquer, cow leather and linen, Nan Wei, China, 2025 • © Ilaria Orsini, • Strata of Illusion, 750 × 450 × 560 mm, porcelain, paper, stain and glaze, Jongjin Park, Republic of Korea, 2025 • © Piotr Niepsuj, • Faun’s Flesh (Arena Rosada), 400 x 850 x 420 mm, Blown sculpted glass and vintage found glass, Maria Koshenkova, Denmark, 2025 • © Piotr Niepsuj • © courtesy of the LOEWE FOUNDATION