Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2025: Japan's Kunimasa Aoki wins for striking terracotta sculpture exploring the tension between control and chaos, as the prize returns to Madrid

South China Morning Post

02-06-2025

Now in its eighth year, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize has established itself as one of the most prestigious accolades in contemporary craft, celebrating innovation and creativity across a range of disciplines including ceramics, jewellery, textiles and woodwork.
Launched in 2016 by
Jonathan Anderson , then-creative director of Spanish luxury house Loewe, the prize was created to elevate craft and honour the artisans shaping its future. Rooted in Loewe's beginnings as a Madrid workshop in 1846, it offers a global platform to contemporary makers.
Thirty artists were shortlisted for the 2025 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize. Photo: Handout
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'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,' said Sheila Loewe, president of the Loewe Foundation and the fifth generation of the Loewe family to become part of the company, during a preview of the finalists' work. 'Over the past decade we have seen the prize transform lives, careers, and build a global community.'
This year, the prize returned to Madrid – where the inaugural edition was held – after being hosted in cities including Seoul, New York and Paris. The 2025 finalists' works are currently on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum until June 29.
At the opening ceremony on May 29, Japanese sculptor Kunimasa Aoki was named the winner of the 2025 edition for his work Realm of Living Things 19, receiving the €50,000 award (US$56,800).
The winning art piece, Realm of Living Things 19, by Japanese sculptor Kunimasa Aoki. Photo: Handout
Aoki's anamorphic terracotta sculpture explores the tension between control and chaos. Using stacked coils of clay compressed under gravity and fired to the brink of collapse, the piece is finished with soil and pencil marks that highlight its textured, organic surface. The jury praised the work for its 'honest expression of the ancestral coil process', noting how the piece's 'little universes' emerge through the raw compression of material. 'The element of risk in the firing process is a testimony to the tenacity and commitment it takes to make a sculpture such as this,' the jury said.
For Sheila Loewe, the work exemplifies the values of the prize. 'The winning piece … you have to be the most skilled artist in the world to create this,' she said. 'It has everything. It has an ancient technique. It's updated. It's beautiful.'
Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello received a special mention for TM Bench with Bowl. Photo: Handout
The jury also had two special mentions to award. Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello was recognised for TM Bench with Bowl, a sculptural bench made from recycled aluminium that critiques global trade and consumerism. 'It felt like I was part of a very important cohort,' said Marcus-Bello at the press preview of the exhibition. 'I don't think I've been in a place where I've seen so many contemporary craftspeople in one place. It's usually a very small crowd of people. For me, when I walked through the exhibition, it felt like a tribe.'