The Loewe Foundation has named Japanese artist Kunimasa Aoki the winner of the 2025 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize. Aoki was awarded the €50,000 ($54,000) prize for Realm of Living Things 19 (2024), a blue-gray terracotta sculpture made from a series of compressed layers that explores the physical transformation of clay over time.
Selected from a shortlist of 30 finalists representing 18 countries and territories, Aoki’s work was recognized for its technical innovation and poetic engagement with ancestral coil-building methods. The prize jury praised the sculpture’s raw finish and surface textures, which the artist created by compressing stacked clay coils, allowing natural forces such as gravity and heat to shape the final form. The work, they noted, reflects “tenacity and commitment” through the inherent risks of the firing process.
Inspired by monumental forms in nature, such as termite mounds and coral, Realm of Living Things 19 took the artist three months to make, with a long period of drying required at each stage. “I don’t want to control the final shape,” the artist explained in an interview with Artsy. “Instead of making a work, you’re helping a work to be built.”
The 2025 jury included a cross-disciplinary panel of 12 international experts in design, architecture, criticism, and curatorial practice. Notable members included architect Frida Escobedo, Olivier Gabet of the Louvre, and ceramicist Magdalene Odundo. Together, they evaluated over 4,600 submissions from 133 countries.
In accepting the award at a ceremony in Madrid (presented by famed Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar), Aoki noted his admiration for the other finalists and the impact of other craftspeople on his practice. “I could recognize that every one has their own techniques,” he said. “Mine is in the middle, between art and craft.”
Two special mentions were also awarded. Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello was honored for TM Bench with Bowl (2023), a piece made from reclaimed aluminum that comments on global trade and consumerism through minimalist, geometric form. The jury also recognized Indian artist Sumakshi Singh for Monument (2024), a delicate hanging thread sculpture reimagining a 12th-century column from an Indian temple. Created by Singh along with members of her studio, the work was made by embroidering copper-coated threads on a soluble fabric. This was later dissolved in water, presenting a statement on the fragility of historical memory.
In accepting her award (presented by actor Meg Ryan), Singh dedicated her award to the female family members with whom she had learned to embroider. “In the textile world, embroidery is always considered secondary,” said Singh. “I’ve always been thinking about reflecting women’s labor and roles in society, which have often seen them as supplementary or decorative.”
The finalist exhibition is on view at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid through June 29, 2025.
Established in 2016, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize celebrates excellence, innovation, and artistic vision in contemporary craftsmanship. Now in its eighth edition, the prize continues to elevate global appreciation for handmade work and experimental material practices. The 2024 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize was awarded to ceramic sculptor Andrés Anza Cortés.
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