Jonathan Anderson And Dame Helen Mirren On The Emotional Importance Of Craft

“We don’t have to make craft nostalgic,” says Jonathan Anderson, creative director of Loewe, recounting the first time he visited the brand’s Spanish factories and reflected on how to make craft relevant to a modern audience. “I hate all those Rembrandt-like images of a man sewing in a dark room.” We are here in the John Pawson-designed building for the second-ever Loewe Craft Prize and it’s true: the light-filled rooms couldn’t be further from the Dickensian image of craftsmen that fashion brands often peddle as marketing fodder.

“I’m very lucky that I have five PRs and three PAs, and all of these people to make my life easier, but these people do it on their own,” adds Anderson, pointing out the work of the 30 finalists. “How can we actually help people who have to do it on their own?”

The answer: launch a €50,000 prize, judged by an expert jury, that is open to all independent craftsmen. And that’s exactly what Anderson did, establishing the Loewe Craft Prize in Madrid last year — and bringing it to the Design Museum this year. The prize itself is open to anyone, self-taught or classically trained — and this year it drew in close to 2,000 submissions from 86 countries across five continents. In an exhibition that will be on display till mid-June, each of the 30 finalists show one selected work in a simple grid format — the diversity and intensity of which is breathtaking.

Yesterday afternoon, an emotional Dame Helen Mirren brought the room to tears as she threw out the script and asked each craftsman to stand, before awarding Scottish ceramicist Jennifer Lee the top prize for her clay vase with oxidised metallic pigments that she began making over 30 years ago. There were two special mentions for Japanese ceramicist Takuro Kuwata and textile sculptor Simone Pheulpin, who each won €5,000.

“It is deeply and profoundly moving to see a tiny, tiny box cut out by hand, a huge box that is blown glass — these extraordinary manifestations of human abilities,” said Mirren in her speech. “I’ve always found that craft carries our human history… and an engagement with a human hand is a very profound experience in a world of so much violence and destruction. It is very beautiful to see creativity.” Cue the collective sobbing.

Anderson himself is known for his cultural copy-and-paste process, working speedily and often drawing on disparate esoteric references. Not one to labour away at a toile for hours is Anderson. And so it’s an interesting step for the designer to explore a more traditional approach to craft by working with single makers who are — quite literally — hands-on when it comes to what they do. “Craft for me is the emotional output through hands,” explains Anderson. “Every human being has this innate thing that they have to do something with their hands and it’s just the human condition.”

The prize will be staged in a different city every year and is a part of a wider strategy by Loewe to reach a more diverse — and perhaps more cultured and sophisticated — demographic. It's probably no coincidence that last year's prize was presented by another septuagenarian, Charlotte Rampling (she and Mirren are both 72). “We don’t come out of a boardroom and start thinking, ‘How do we target millennials?’” Anderson asserts. “F--k millennials! How can we get people excited? How do we show people different ways of looking at form?”

While Loewe has a rich heritage in artisanal leather production, Anderson has been pivotal in modernising the image of the LVMH-owned brand, as well as its product. Best-selling bags aside, his ready-to-wear collections often push the boundaries of fabrication, silhouette and modernity.

One can’t help feeling that the prize marks a change for Anderson too, and has given him a more emotional appreciation of craft. “It has made me humbler and taken a weight off my back,” he says. “What I realise by doing this project is that there are people who design in the dark and they may take until they are 80 to be recognised. Speed is good but at the same time you cannot build overnight. You want to be the best and the biggest and we live in an Instagram society where it’s the Andy Warhol [15 minutes of fame] thing, but sometimes you have to learn the craft and take the time.

“It’s important that we are more emotional with things,” he adds. “Yes, it’s fine to like something and to engage with the millennial and do all of these things, but ultimately, you have to have an emotional connection to something.”

The Loewe Craft Prize 2018 exhibition will run at The Design Museum, London, from 4 May until 17 June 2018. Admission is free.