Japanese Artist Kunimasa Aoki Wins 2025 Loewe Craft Prize
The 2025 Loewe Craft Prize has been awarded to Japanese artist Kunimasa Aoki for his terracotta sculpture 'Realm of Living Things 19' (2024). The announcement was made on May 29, 2025, and Aoki will receive a cash prize of €50,000 (approximately 78.5 million KRW). Aoki's work explores the transformation and cracking of clay when pressure is applied, showcasing innovative techniques that utilize time, gravity, and pressure.
The Loewe Craft Prize, established by the Loewe Foundation in Spain in 2016, celebrates excellence in contemporary craftsmanship, artistic value, and innovation. The foundation aims to recognize the importance of craft in modern culture and to discover artists with the talent and vision to set new standards for the future. This year, over 4,600 works from artisans representing 133 countries and regions were submitted, with a panel of expert judges narrowing it down to 30 finalists before selecting Aoki's piece as the winner.
The jury, composed of 12 members from various fields including design, architecture, journalism, and curation, included notable figures such as architect Patricia Urquiola and Olivier Gabet, director of decorative arts at the Louvre Museum. The finalists represented a diverse range of materials, including ceramics, woodworking, textiles, furniture, paper, glass, metal, jewelry, and lacquer, with many works innovatively reinterpreting traditional craft techniques.
In addition to Aoki's win, two special awards were given. Nigerian artist Nifemi Marcus-Bello received recognition for 'TM Bench with Bowl' (2023), which uses recycled aluminum to explore themes of trade, globalization, and power dynamics. The jury praised the piece for its simple materials and geometric form, conveying a powerful message about consumerism.
The second special award went to the Samakshi Singh Studio from India for 'Monument' (2024), a life-sized reconstruction of a 12th-century colonnade pillar from Delhi. This piece creatively connects copper zari to dissolvable fabric, leaving only the thread behind, and highlights cultural resilience and memory amidst the passage of time.
The winning and special award pieces, along with the other finalists, are on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid, Spain, from May 30 to June 29, 2025. The exhibition is also available online and will be documented in a catalog.
