Fanglu Lin’s Textile Wall Installation Wins The Fifth Loewe’s Craft Prize

Jonathan Anderson, the creative director of the Spanish luxury fashion house Loewe, announced the winner of the recipient of the Craft Prize yesterday. Chinese designer Fanglu Lin has knotted, over three months, a cloud-like wall installation that has won her Loewe’s grand prize.

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The Loewe Foundation has revealed the recipient of the €50,000 grand prize: She, a knotted and knitted textile based on traditional textile skills of the Bai minority group based in the province of Yunnan in China. The piece has the monumental dimension of 18-foot by 98-foot by 196-foot (5,5m x 30m x 60m), and weights about 550 pounds.

“It feels like something that is monumental, a sort of landscape that comes right out to you. It has presence,” Anderson says of the work.

Fanglu Lin’s She summons up tradition, history, quality, craftsmanship and scale, an artful masterpiece that makes Fanglu Lin the first textile artist to win the prize, and reassures Loewe commitment to push craftsmanship to the forefront of their mission and vision—which has always been at Loewe’s core.

“Craft is the essence of Loewe. As a house, we are about craft in the purest sense of the word. That is where our modernity lies, and it will always be relevant,” Anderson said.

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'Desértico II' by David Corvalán

'She' by Fanglu Lin

'Like water uphill (from Crucible series)' by Anthony Marsh

To honour the participants of the Craft Prize, Loewe is launching The Room, an online gallery that showcases the work of 115 shortlisted artists. Additionally, the work of the 30 finalists, initially planned to be exhibited at the Musée des Arts Decoratif in Paris, will be featured in a 3D tour at the Great Hall museum, given the current restrictions.

From this year’s competition, Chilean artist David Corvalán, for his sculpture made of hundreds of individual copper wires and resin, and Japanese artist Takayuki Sakiyama, for his stone piece inspired by the power of sea, have been singled out by the jury.

The Craft Prize, launched in 2016, celebrates the excellence in craftsmanship, and it’s Loewe’s most notorious contribution to emerging artists. However, the luxury house has sponsored many other events of craftsmanship. According to Anderson, there’s strong dedication within the company to support artists in different ways.

“Loewe has sponsored so many shows of contemporary craft and we have acquired huge amounts of work for the Loewe Foundation, which we put on display in our stores."