30 Artisans Compete for €50K Loewe Craft Prize in Singapore

Thirty craftspeople from across the globe are about to show the world that handmade art is anything but old-fashioned.

The Loewe Foundation announced its 2026 Craft Prize finalists this week, spotlighting makers who work with everything from elephant grass to steel, lacquer to bookbinding. These aren't museum pieces gathering dust. They're living proof that traditional skills can speak to modern life.

Take Fra Fra Tapestry #2, created by Baba Tree Master Weavers working with designer Álvaro Catalán de Ocón. The massive woven piece started with drone images of circular adobe homes in Ghana, planned using AutoCAD in Madrid, then brought to life using centuries-old basketry techniques. It's architecture, technology, and tradition woven into one stunning textile.

Other finalists push boundaries in unexpected ways. Jobe Burns created Laying Vessel, a large steel sculpture built in conversation with industrial metalworkers in England's Midlands. Adelene Koh transformed the hidden endband of a book spine into a circular sculpture that makes you rethink what bookbinding can be.

Chia-Chen Hsieh's Rhythm in Grid takes bamboo craft somewhere entirely new. Thousands of thin strips create a dense ripple pattern that turns an ancient material into contemporary sculpture.

The prize, founded in 2016, awards €50,000 to one winner chosen by a 13-member jury. This year's judges include last year's winner Kunimasa Aoki, ceramicist Magdalene Odundo, architect Frida Escobedo, and Olivier Gabet from the Louvre Museum.

The Ripple Effect

Beyond the annual competition, Loewe has built The Room, an online archive showcasing more than 2,800 works by past finalists. It's become a global showcase proving that craft isn't dying. It's evolving, connecting makers across continents and generations, and finding new audiences who care about things made with human hands and human hearts.

All 30 finalist works go on display at Singapore's National Gallery from May 13 through June 14, with the winner revealed May 12.