Now into its fourth iteration, Spanish maison Loewe has just announced the 30 finalists for the upcoming Loewe Craft Prize 2020. If you’ve yet to get acquainted with this prize, it’s an initiative started by Loewe’s famously arts and craft-obsessed creative director Jonathan Anderson in 2016 to celebrate and support craftsmanship and artistic merit around the world.
While the Craft Prize itself might not (yet) be a household name, there is noticeably a growing appreciation in returning to old school art techniques and that’s also seen in the increased number of applicants this year – 2,920 in total, an increase of 15% over the last edition – from artisans across a staggering 107 countries.
And in-sync with the urgent need to take action in the face of the ongoing climate crisis, many of the entries this year were reportedly created using recycled and upcycled materials.
The eventual winner will be picked by a jury of 12 international design luminaries, including last year’s winner Genta Ishizuka. The prize bounty? A cool 50,000 euros – with the winner to be announced on May 19 at the opening of the Craft Prize 2020 exhibition at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.
Above, the works of all 30 finalists – enjoy!
Afsaneh Modiramani
Anthony Marsh
Bodil Manz
Carla Garcia Durlan
Darshana Raja
David Corvalan
Despo Sophocleous
Edu Tarin
Fanglu Lin
Hyejeong Kim
Jack Doherty
Jess Tolbert
Jessica Loughlin
Jiyong Lee
Joel Andrianomearisoa
Kevin Grey
Kohei Ukai
Kyeok Kim
Marc Ricourt
Naama Haneman
Peter Bauhuis
Sukkeun Kang
Sung Youl Park
Sungho Cho
Takayuki Sakiyama
Tobias Mohl
Veronika Beckh
Waqas Khan
Xavier Toubes
Yang Gao