After 3,900 submissions and a shortlist of 30 artists from 16 countries around the world – finalists span Nigeria, Korea, the United States, Mali, New Zealand and more – Mexican ceramic artist Andrés Anza has been announced as the winner of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize 2024 at a ceremony in Paris’ Palais de Tokyo this evening (14 May 2024). The jury, which comprises leading names from the worlds of design, architecture and journalism, praised the totemic ceramic work on display, titled ‘I only know what I have seen’ (2023), for the way it combines the ‘figurative and the abstract’ with ’architectural intention and precision’. He was presented the award by actress Aubrey Plaza.
The piece is constructed from refractory clay and recalls organic forms with its undulating surface dotted with thousands of ‘spiked protrusions’ – whether cacti or sea anemones – and Anza told Wallpaper* he relishes how people see different things in it. ‘There is something really familiar about it, you can almost tell what ecosystem it comes from,’ he said earlier this morning. ‘But you cannot really tell, because it is nothing. I want people to feel curious about it.’ He will be awarded a €50,000 prize.
