The works selected for the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize shortlist will go on display at Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid from 30 May to 29 June 2025. Many of the works in this year’s shortlist innovatively transpose ancient craft techniques from their traditional medium to new materials, such as basketry to clay and weaving on the loom to metal, while elsewhere traditional motifs have been reimagined and reinterpreted. Oral tradition, ritual and knowledge passed through generations are expressed in works that pay reverence to this rich inheritance. While in other works, the artist has forged their own path, creating unique sculptural forms that offer a new direction. Some of these new forms conjure a sense of whimsy and the fantastical, while in others, the artist’s hand is felt more strongly through a gestural treatment of surface.

This year’s finalists were chosen by a panel of experts from over 4,500 submissions by artisans representing 132 countries and regions. The 30 finalists, representing 18 countries and regions, work across a range of mediums including ceramics, woodwork, textiles, furniture, paper, glass, metal, jewellery and lacquer. In their deliberations, the panel sought to identify the most outstanding works in terms of technical accomplishment, skills, innovation and artistic vision.

Sheila Loewe, President of the LOEWE FOUNDATION said: ‘Year on year it gives me such pleasure to see the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize provide a platform for extraordinary talent, and change the perception of craft internationally. Over the past decade we have seen the Prize transform lives, careers, and build a global community. It is my great privilege to continue my family’s legacy.’

A tribute to LOEWE’s beginnings as a collective craft workshop in 1846, the annual Craft Prize was launched by the LOEWE FOUNDATION in 2016 to celebrate excellence, artistic merit and innovation in modern craft. The award, envisioned by LOEWE Creative Director Jonathan Anderson, aims to acknowledge the importance of craft in today’s culture and to recognise artists whose talent, vision and will to innovate, promise to set a new standard for the future.

Works by the 30 finalists will go on display at Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid, home to an extensive collection spanning eight centuries that offersan encyclopaedic overview of Western art, and will be documented in an exhibition catalogue. 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 Arts Décoratifs, Paris (2021); Seoul Museum of Craft Art (SeMoCA), Seoul (2022); in Isamu Noguchi’s studio at the Noguchi Museum, New York (2023) and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2024).

Regarding the selection process, Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, Executive Secretary of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Expert Panel, said: ‘The 2025 edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize continues to explore the various ways artists reinterpret and modernize traditions. With each edition, the exhibition seeks to showcase extraordinary craftsmanship, demonstrating how artisans work with both precious and non-precious materials — using traditional hand-tools or cutting-edge technology — to shape a contemporary culture enriched by the talent of diverse and distant creative traditions’.

A jury composed of 12 leading figures from the worlds of design, architecture, journalism, criticism and museum curatorship will select the winner of the 2025 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize. The winner will be awarded €50,000 and the announcement will be made on 29 May 2025, at the opening of the exhibition at Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum.

Name of finalist: Akari Aso

Country/region of entry: Japan

Name of work: 'Radiance Amidst Uncertainty'

Category: Other

Materials: bamboo

Fine, delicate strips of bamboo have been dyed and woven using the traditional Japanese Yotsume-ami technique to create this angular, multi-faceted work. This intricate, lattice-weaving method increases the bamboo’s natural flexibility, resulting in this abstract, sculptural form which has a strong sense of movement. The delicacy of the bamboo and its woven texture is further enhanced by the use of thin bands of contrasting orange, blue and green tones.

Name of finalist: Philip Eglin

Country/region of entry: United Kingdom

Name of work: 'Rosso'

Category: Ceramics

Materials: earthenware

Realised on an impressive scale, this jar has been inspired by both 15th-century Italian Maiolica pharmacy jars and galvanised watering cans. Four hand-rolled thin clay sheets have had a white slip applied and been placed together to form a long, flat canvas. Red slip has then been dripped, poured and brushed from above. This intuitive treatment of surface and colour has been informed by both 18th-century English slipware and the gestural paintings of Cy Twombly. The clay is then pressed into a three-part mould, keyed together and tied. Once dry, hollow soft-sl

Name of finalist: Jessica Costa

Country/region of entry: Brazil

Name of work: 'Sobejos XII'

Category: Textiles

Materials: natural Brazilian wool, resin and wood

Appearing to cascade down the wall, pooling where it meets the floor, this tactile work challenges traditional classifications to bridge sculpture and textile. Inspired by both medieval and Arts & Crafts tapestries and the human form, the work has been created using a tufting gun to first thread wool into fabric before precisely cutting and shaping the fibres. Deep grooves and furrows run across the work’s entire surface, and a defined rectangle in its centre appears to punch outwards, adding further visual intrigue. The work demonstrates a painterly approach to both form and colour, with colourful accents and gradients used to create additional textural interest and depth.

Nom du finaliste: Agnes Husz

Pays/région de résidence: Hungary

Nom de l'œuvre: 'StopStone / Tomeishi'

Catégorie: Ceramics

Matériaux: colored stoneware

This ceramic work takes the Japanese tradition of Tomeishi, stones wrapped with twine used to ward off evil spirits, as its starting point. Crafted from hand-stretched slabs of clay which have been slapped down onto a board, the resulting long strips have been compressed together to form a large, striated cube. Colour is used to articulate the work’s form and surface, with darkly pigmented slips and glazes pushed into its crevices to further highlight its rich textures. The work is then bound with twine and knotted at the top.

Name of finalist: Rei Chikaoka

Country/region of entry: Japan

Name of work: 'Release Clear #3'

Category: Glass

Materials: glass, brass

Ribbons of translucent glass have been wound together to form this hollow tube, crystallised between furling and unfurling. The work appears frozen in time and there is a delicate tension between motion and stasis. The work uses an innovative technique of the artist’s own invention, transparent glass particles are sandwiched between soft ceramic fibres which allow the work to be shaped and manipulated before firing in an electric kiln. These flexible fibres are then removed, leaving behind only brass pins which are fused to the glass to secure the work in place. Precise temperature control during the firing preserves the shape of the glass and creates a beautiful lustre and shine across the surface.

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