LOEWE OPENS CRAFTED WORLD EXHIBITION IN SHANGHAI

A celebration of the house’s rich history, Spanish heritage, and commitment to the handmade, LOEWE’S Crafted World exhibition opens at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre

An interactive journey through time, space, material and craft filled with art and culture and imbued with LOEWE’s idiosyncratic sense of fun, Crafted World is the house’s first public exhibition. Curated by its creative director Jonathan Anderson as ‘a homage to all the craftspeople around the world that have dedicated their lives to the handmade.’ Crafted World offers visitors a chance to immerse themselves in iconic designs and cultural collaborations that have illuminated LOEWE’s evolution from its founding as a leather-making collective in Madrid in 1846 to becoming one of the world’s leading luxury fashion houses.

The exhibition charts LOEWE’s 178-year history of creativity, innovation and excellence in craft. Beginning with the house’s 19th century origins, its appointment as an official supplier to the Spanish Royal Family and acquisition by LVMH in the 20th century, and the opening of its first store in Shanghai, China, at the turn of the 21st century, culminating in its renaissance guided by Jonathan Anderson. It is above all a celebration of craft, and artistic techniques passed down through the ages, which have long been supported by the LOEWE Foundation, the annual LOEWE Foundation Craft Prize, and LOEWE’s many collaborations with artisans around the world.

It is a story that transports the audience to the sights and sounds of Spain, and behind the scenes of the atelier and the many steps needed to bring a design to life. Crafted World recreates the feeling of a runway show in a room showcasing a series of looks from Jonathan Anderson’s tenure as creative director, presents a multimedia survey of the house’s support for crafts around the world, and reaches its climax in a series of nine spectacular, interactive rooms that bring the audience inside of the artworks and the visionary worlds that have inspired LOEWE’s collaborations from the past decade.

Designed in collaboration with OMA, the studio behind some of the most ground-breaking buildings of the 21st century, Crafted World unfolds over 1,600 square metres and the courtyard of the Shanghai Exhibition Centre and features plenty of surprises along the way. These include super-sized leather sculptures, an ascending ‘pronunciation tunnel’ designed to help show how to say “LO-EV-EH”, a series of knee-high exhibits for children to interact with, and a moving, suspended flower garden set inside an infinite hall of mirrors, to name just a few. The exhibition is curated around six thematic chapters showcasing the house’s progressive approach to fashion and the culture of craft:

Born from the Hand Born from the Hand tells the story of LOEWE’s evolution from a leather-making collective in 1846 to the house’s modern identity through presenting key products, such as early made-to-order leather pieces and the first editions of the iconic Amazona, Flamenco and Puzzle bags, alongside architectural models, archive photographs and advertising, works from Pablo Picasso and Pedro Almodóvar signifying the spirit of the times, recent collaborations with Anthea Hamilton, and costumes for Rihanna and Beyoncé.

Welcome to Spain Welcome to Spain transports visitors to the sights and sounds of LOEWE’s home country. Backdropped by campaign photographs and videos by Steven Meisel, Tyler Mitchell and Gray Sorrenti, as well as the surreal sculptures of Barcelona’s Olympic Park, the shimmering blues of the Mediterranean Sea, and Andalucian palacios clad in Moorish-inspired tiles, this chapter places the country’s craft traditions in dialogue with the landscapes that inspire them. Structured around six tree trunks, here Basket and Bucket bags made in collaboration with Spanish artisans are presented alongside heritage lebrillo bowls, Pablo Picasso’s ceramics, and sea animal accessories from LOEWE’s free-spirited Paula’s Ibiza line.

The Atelier The Atelier goes behind the scenes to guide the audience through the many steps needed to bring the designs of LOEWE’s iconic bags to life. Beginning with a library of leathers before continuing through its cutting, trimming, painting and assembling, this chapter reveals the tools needed to cut by hand, and the hundreds of hours of prototyping and testing that ensure that every bag lasts for many generations. The chapter culminates with a two-metre-tall recreation of the Howl’s Moving Castle bag created especially for the exhibition showing how the atelier re-interpreted the castle from the 2004 Studio Ghibli classic with elements of the house’s iconic bags.

Fashion Without Limits Fashion Without Limits immerses the audience in the avant-garde creativity, sculptural forms and playful trompe l’oeil effects of Jonathan Anderson’s runway collections for LOEWE since his appointment as creative director in 2013. The chapter features 69 looks from both men’s and womenswear collections on mannequins on plinths placed in dialogue with works of art from the LOEWE art collection that evoke his designs’ bold silhouettes: William Turnbull’s bronze sculpture Idol (1956), Haegue Yang’s textile mobile The Intermediate – Dangling Hairy Hug (2018), and Zizipho Poswa’s glazed earthenware Mireille Kamyanya, Congo (2022). Three digital totems with portrait-format screens broadcast videos from the runway give the feeling of models walking through a show space.

United in Craft United in Craft celebrates the joy of making things with one’s hands, and shows how LOEWE supports craft around the world. This chapter features works from the annual LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize and videos telling their stories, the exquisitely coloured glazes of Ming and Qing Dynasty ceramics that inspired 2023’s Chinese Monochrome Collection, and the Tapestries, Baskets, Weaves, Chairs and Chestnut Roasters projects from Salone del Mobile which have seen LOEWE collaborate with Ecuadorian tapestry artists, Indian ribbon-makers, South African basket-makers and Chinese bamboo weavers, among others. The house’s dedication to a responsible and sustainable future is showcased in the beaded Elephant bags of the Knot on My Planet charity collaboration, made by Kenyan and Tanzanian craftspeople, and the repaired baskets of the 2022 Salone del Mobile exhibition Weave, Restore and Renew.

Unexpected Dialogues Unexpected Dialogues is a series of nine rooms immersing the audience in the visionary worlds that have inspired LOEWE’s collaborations from the past decade. The chapter features a recreation of master potter Ken Price’s New Mexico studio, Japanese ceramicists, Suna Fujita’s fairytale scenes hidden in the walls, floor-to-ceiling tactile woven carpets by John Allen, a jade quarry celebrating the ancient craft of jade carving and LOEWE’s recent Lunar New Year collection, a Joe Brainard collage brought to life, and a magical Studio Ghibli dreamworld. Three rooms are dedicated to masters of the 19th-century British Arts & Crafts movement: William Morris’s wallpapers are brought to life as animated projections, the nature-inspired tiles of William De Morgan cover a room, and a moving, suspended garden set inside an infinite hall of mirrors is inspired by C.F.A. Voysey.

Before the audience emerges into a courtyard scattered with half a dozen of Álvaro Leiro’s reinterpretations of the traditional, fringed Galician raincoats woven from reeds, straw and briar, they pass through a specially curated gift shop with exclusive products and a selection of books so they can stay immersed in LOEWE’s Crafted World long after leaving.

Crafted World runs from 22 March to 5 May 2024 before travelling worldwide. The exhibition is open to the public, and entrance is free.