Featuring outstanding works by thirty finalists from around the world, alongside the announcement of this year&rsquo;s prize winner.<o:p></o:p>

Founded in 1988 by Enrique Loewe, a fourth-generation member of LOEWE&rsquo;s founding family, the LOEWE FOUNDATION operates as a private cultural foundation dedicated to the arts. Now led by his daughter Sheila Loewe, it continues to foster creativity, support educational initiatives and preserve cultural heritage across fields such as art, craft, design, photography, poetry and dance.<o:p></o:p>
Rooted in the heritage of LOEWE, which began as a collective craft workshop in 1846, the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize was launched in 2016 to celebrate the enduring vitality of craft. The international annual award recognises contemporary artisans whose work brings new perspectives to traditional disciplines, spanning ceramics, jewellery, textiles, woodwork, glass, metalwork, furniture, papercraft and lacquer. By spotlighting artists whose practices demonstrate both mastery and experimentation, the LOEWE FOUNDATION highlights the essential role of craft in today&rsquo;s cultural landscape while championing makers whose ideas and innovations point toward its future.<o:p></o:p>

Across this year&rsquo;s selection, making unfolds as a delicate interplay between balance, tension and instability. Subdued palettes are disrupted by flashes of colour, pristine surfaces fracture with moments of rupture, and strict geometries bend or soften out of alignment. Cultural traditions provide further points of orientation, with practices drawn from basketry, textiles, dyeing and architectural craft reinterpreted through contemporary perspectives.<o:p></o:p>
From more than 5,100 submissions by artists across 133 countries and regions, a panel of experts selected this year&rsquo;s finalists. The 30 shortlisted makers, representing 19 countries and regions, work across disciplines ranging from ceramics, woodwork and textiles to furniture, bookbinding, glass, metal, jewellery and lacquer. In reviewing the entries, the panel sought works that combined technical mastery with innovation and a compelling artistic vision. This edition also marks the first time Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, creative directors of LOEWE, joined the jury alongside prominent voices from architecture, journalism and museum curatorship.<o:p></o:p>

Baba Tree Master Weavers x Álvaro Catalán de Ocón, Spain - 'Frafra Tapestry"

Jobe Burns, United Kingdom - ' Laying Vessel'

Soohyun Chun, Republic of Korea - 'Reconstructed Perspective Vessel 3C1L'

Morten Løbner Espersen, Denmark - '#2572'

Liam Fleming, Australia - ' Patterns of Pressure'

Oskar Gustafsson, Sweden - 'Hierarchies of Existence'

Susan Halls, United Kingdom - 'Edifice'

Gjertrud Hals, Norway - 'Scala'

Chia-Chen Hsieh, Taiwan Regian - 'Rhythm in Grid'

Adelene Koh, Singapore - 'Endless'

Maria Koshenkova, Denmark - 'Faun's Flesh (Arena Rosada

Jong In Lee, Republic of Korea - 'Baeheullim'

Somyeong Lee, Republic of Korea - 'Chronicle of Matter'

Misako Nakahira, Japan - 'Interaction #YB'

Fadekemi Ogunsanya, Nigeria - 'We Are Not Lying, Your Language is Not Enough'

Jieun Park, Republic of Korea - 'Seed of Circulation'

Jongjin Park, Republic of Korea - 'Strata of Illusion'

Rafael Pérez Fernández, Spain - 'Time To Time'

Dorothea Prühl, Germany - 'Migratory Birds'

Kristie Rea, Australia - 'Repose 2'

Vivi Rosa, Brazil - 'Resonance'

Hervé Sabin, Haiti - 'Sèvi-Tè'

Xanthe Somers, Zimbabwe - 'The Caretaker's Clotheshorse'

Coco Sung, Republic of Korea - 'Shadow Kkokdu'

Nobuyuki Tanaka, Japan - 'Inner side - Outer Side 2021 N'

Graziano Visintin, Italy - 'Collier'

Rayah Wauters, Belgium - 'A Turn Toward Possibility'

Nan Wei, China - Knot-Loving'

Jane Yang-D'Haene, United States of America - 'Untitled'

Ayano Yoshizumi, Japan - 'ICON #2507 Group'

Sheila Loewe, President of the LOEWE FOUNDATION, said: "The Craft Prize continues to reveal the extraordinary diversity and ambition of contemporary craft. The works shortlisted for the 2026 edition demonstrate how deeply rooted traditions can be reimagined through innovation, skill and imagination. Bringing this exhibition to Singapore reflects the global dialogue at the heart of the Prize and our ongoing commitment to supporting artists at pivotal moments in their careers."<o:p></o:p>

Ceramic artist Jongjin Park from South Korea has been named the winner of the ninth edition of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize for his work Strata of Illusion. Built through a meticulous process of stratified layering, the piece forms a dense ceramic block. Sheets of paper are coated in porcelain slip tinted with hand-mixed pigments before being folded, stacked and compacted by hand into a rectangular mass. After drying and oxidation firing, the layered paper fuses into a single ceramic form.<o:p></o:p>

The jury also awarded two special mentions this year, each accompanied by a &euro;5,000 prize. One was presented to Baba Tree Master Weavers x &Aacute;lvaro Catal&aacute;n de Oc&oacute;n for Frafra Tapestry, a monumental community-woven work inspired by aerial views of a traditional village in the Gurunsi region of Ghana. While the architectural plans were drafted in Madrid, the tapestry itself was developed in Ghana by master weaver Mary Anaba and the Baba Tree Master Weavers, using traditional basketry techniques with natural and dyed elephant grass.<o:p></o:p>
The second special mention is awarded to Graziano Visintin for Collier. The work consists of two necklaces formed from tiny cubes of varying scale and shape, built from thin sheets of gold and adorned with niello, an ancient metalworking technique. Instead of being set into engraved lines, the niello is applied in free brushstrokes, leaving the surface marked and encrusted. As light moves across the pieces, the contrast between gold and deep black niello creates a shifting interplay of colour and reflection.<o:p></o:p>

All 30 shortlisted works will be presented at the National Gallery Singapore, on view from 13 May to 14 June 2026. The exhibition brings together a wide-ranging selection of contemporary craft practices from across the globe, offering visitors an immersive encounter with the diversity of materials, techniques and ideas that define this year&rsquo;s finalists.<o:p></o:p>

LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2026 in Singapore

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