Japanese sculptor Kunimasa Aoki won the 2025 Loewe Craft Prize on Thursday evening in Madrid, receiving a €50,000 cash prize. His anamorphic terracotta sculpture “Realm of Living Things 19” was selected by a 12-member jury from 30 shortlisted works on display at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum. The jury praised the work's honest expression of the ancestral coil process and the raw, unfinished form of the material. Two special mentions were awarded: Nigerian artist Nifemi Marcus-Bello for “TM Bench with Bowl” and Studio Sumakshi Singh from India for “Monument.”
The prize, established in 2016 by former Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson, acknowledges the importance of craft in contemporary culture and pays tribute to Loewe’s roots as a Madrid-based leather-making collective. The win highlights the growing recognition of traditional craft techniques within the global luxury and art worlds, and underscores the Loewe Foundation’s commitment to supporting innovative craftsmanship that transcends material limits.