{"id":146035,"date":"2025-05-31T05:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T05:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/146035\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T05:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T05:49:09","slug":"japanese-sculptor-kunimasa-aoki-wins-2025-loewe-craft-prize","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/146035\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Sculptor Kunimasa Aoki Wins 2025 Loewe\u00a0Craft\u00a0Prize"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLONDON \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>Japanese sculptor and terracotta artist Kunimasa Aoki has been named the winner of the 2025\u00a0Loewe<\/a>\u00a0Craft\u00a0Prize on Thursday evening during an award ceremony in Madrid with a cash prize of 50,000 euros.<\/p>\n

\n\tSelected by a 12-member jury\u00a0from\u00a030 shortlisted works\u00a0<\/a>on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid from Friday to June 29, Aoki\u2019s anamorphic terracotta sculpture \u201cRealm of Living Things 19\u201d stood out for its \u201chonest expression of the ancestral coil process, and how the material is expressed in its raw, unfinished form,\u201d according to the LVMH-owned Spanish luxury house.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Articles<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Portrait<\/p>\n

\n\tHis clay work explores how the material distorts and cracks when forces such as gravity, time, and pressure are applied, creating intricate details on the surface as a result.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury said 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.<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn in 1963, Aoki was professionally trained at the Department of Sculpture at Musashino Art University in Tokyo before completing a postgraduate course at the University\u2019s Graduate School of Art and Design.<\/p>\n

\n\tPrior to his Craft Prize win, he has presented solo exhibitions at Gallery Seiho and Tokyo Art Center, and featured in group exhibitions, including at the Kawaguchi City Art Gallery. In 2023, he received the Gold Prize at the 9th Japan Art Center Sculpture Competition in Kobe.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury also agreed on two special mentions: Nigerian artist Nifemi Marcus-Bello\u2019s \u201cTM Bench with Bowl,\u201d and \u201cMonument,\u201d an installation from India\u2019s Studio Sumakshi Singh.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe former was created from reclaimed aluminium from the car industry to explore notions of globalization, trade, and the dynamics of power, while the latter was designed as a life-size reimagining of a column from a 12th-century colonnade in Delhi that has been created using copper zari, threaded onto water-soluble fabric which was then dissolved leaving only the thread behind.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe jury liked the simplicity of the raw material in Marcus-Bello\u2019s work. Combined with geometric forms, they believe, creates a powerful statement on consumerism.<\/p>\n

\n\tStudio Sumakshi Singh\u2019s creation was praised for its poetic contrast between its strong presence and its delicate structure, which serves as a testament to the enduring memory and resilience of cultural histories.
Sheila Loewe<\/a>, president of the Loewe Foundation, and a member of the jury, which also includes
architect and industrial designer Patricia Urquiola, architect Wang Shu, ceramicist Magdalene Odundo, essayist and architect Frida Escobedo and Olivier Gabet, director of the Department of Decorative Arts at the Louvre Museum, said she was struck by \u201cthe incredible breadth of ingenuity, beauty and skill in the works on show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAoki\u00b4s winning sculpture\u00a0showcases an ancient coiling technique requiring exceptional skill and tenacity to realise, Studio Sumakshi-Singh\u2019s poetic textile work transposes an ancient stone column into intricate copper and Marcus-Bello has repurposed aluminum from the car industry into welded geometric forms that blur the line between sculpture and furniture. Each of these artists demonstrate an ability to transcend the limits of their raw materials, and together the works tell powerful, distinct stories that showcase the breadth of craft today,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\n\tEstablished in 2016 by former creative director Jonathan Anderson \u201cto acknowledge the importance of craft in today\u2019s culture,\u201d the annual prize also pays tribute to Loewe\u2019s roots as a Madrid-based leather-making collective and supplier to the Spanish royal crown.
Anderson is now the creative director of Dior Men, and is widely speculated to soon take over the responsibility of the women\u2019s business from Maria Grazia Chiuri, who stepped down as artistic director of women\u2019s collections on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\n\tFounded in 1846, Loewe has in recent years evolved into a fast-growing global luxury brand steeped in contemporary culture.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize has become an important springboard and calling card for winners and shortlisted artisans alike.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe prize debuted in Madrid, and has been staged in cities including Paris, London, Seoul, New York and Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 10th and current edition of the prize attracted more than 4,500 submissions from 132 countries and regions, whittled down to 30 by a panel of experts who considered \u201ctechnical accomplishment, skills, innovation and artistic vision,\u201d according to\u00a0Loewe.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe shortlisted artists hail from 18 countries and regions, and submitted designs in materials including ceramics, woodwork, textiles, furniture, paper, glass, metal, and lacquer.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to the Loewe Foundation, some submissions \u201cconjure a sense of whimsy and the fantastical, while in others, the artist\u2019s hand is felt more strongly through a gestural treatment of the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2014\u00a0Japanese sculptor and terracotta artist Kunimasa Aoki has been named the winner of the 2025\u00a0Loewe\u00a0Craft\u00a0Prize on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,4022,77,38862,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-146035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-loewe","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114600880637578645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}