LOEWE's creative director, Jonathan Anderson, teams up with Sotheby's to release the LOEWE Weaves project.
‘Craft is one of my main interests: one that I’ve made central to LOEWE’s identity. This year, to reinforce our commitment to craft, we are collaborating with Sotheby’s auction house on our LOEWE Weaves project: a collection of unique, artisan crafted objects including artist-embellished Galician chestnut roasters, woven leather bags, baskets and accessories.
Sotheby’s are exhibiting a selection of seven artist-embellished chestnut roasters featuring experimental weaving techniques by artists Arko (Japan), Min Chen
(China) and Laia Arqueros (Spain). The handmade pots, created by master potter Antonio Pereira and reinterpreted by these three artists, will be displayed alongside the exceptional pieces of Sotheby’s marquee May auctions of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art in New York. The exhibition will open on May 1st with some of the most remarkable works of art from the 20th and 21st century that Sotheby’s will be auctioning on May 12th, when the exhibition will close.
The exhibited pieces will be sold at a fixed price on Sotheby’s Buy Now online marketplace, starting on May 1st – which makes LOEWE the first major luxury fashion house to exclusively consign with the platform. We will be fully involved in the process, with the roasters featured in the catalogue. It’s all very engaging, and another way to pay tribute to the superb craft of our unique pieces.
In addition to these pieces, we gave 84 chestnut roasters to artisans Idoia Cuesta
and Belen Martinez from Spain and to artisans in LOEWE’s own ateliers for them to experiment with. Holes have been braided or passed through with strips of fabrics, ribbons, rope, leather strings, wool threads, feathers, straw. The roaster’s surface has been left untouched, glazed or painted. The functionality of these objects has been twisted and turned, becoming abstract as discarded materials have gained new life. The result is quite striking. Many of the materials embellishing the roasters are, in fact, surplus from past LOEWE collections. Authentic craft, for me, is sustainable. These roasters will be exhibited and available for sale in the LOEWE stores worldwide.
The act of weaving can take many different meanings and forms; it can be used as decoration or as a way to build a structure. We went both ways, with the aim of pushing craft to the extreme and exploring new ways to bring objects to life, turning traditional techniques into something unexpected. Playfulness is the key: a desire to engage in a creative and experimental dialogue with materiality and shape. Our new project also reunites a series of decorative objects created by artisans and a line of bags and leather accessories.
Across this whole project, what I hope that what comes through is the liveliness and expansiveness of contemporary craft, as well as its playfulness. I am proud we have created singular objects that rewire function through decoration, and the other way round.‘
Jonathan
