Loewe opens Crafted World exhibition in Shanghai

The house of Loewe is opening a novel exhibition Crafted World in Shanghai, a combination of celebration of the house’s history, its Spanish heritage, and recent intense commitment to the handmade.
 

The exhibition officially opens on Friday, March 22 inside the Shanghai Exhibition Centre. It is designed to be an interactive journey through time, space, material and craft filled with art and culture – all imbued with the sense of idiosyncratic sense of fun, which is the signature of the house’s creative director Jonathan Anderson.
 
Crafted World is also the first public exhibition by Loewe, a Madrid-based luxury label that is one of the fastest growing houses in the LVMH luxury conglomerate.

Curated by 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 witness iconic designs and cultural collaborations dating back through Loewe’s evolution from a leather-making collective in Madrid in 1846 to its status as one of fashion’s most influential brands.
 
The 93,000 square-meter Shanghai Exhibition Centre is one of the largest integrated building complexes in central Shanghai. Built in 1955, for many decades, it was the tallest building in the city and remains a major landmark.
 

The exhibition charts Loewe’s 178-year history of innovation in craft beginning with the house’s 19th century origins and its appointment as an official supplier to the Spanish Royal Family to its acquisition by LVMH in the late 20th century. All the way to the opening of its first store in Shanghai, China, at the turn of the 21st century.
 
It is also a celebration of craft and artistic techniques passed down through the ages, supported by the Loewe Foundation, the annual Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, along with Loewe’s multiple collaborations with artisans worldwide.
 
Crafted World is designed to capture the senses and sounds of Spain; peek into the brand’s atelier and recreate the feeling of a runway show in a room showcasing a series of looks from Anderson’s tenure as creative director. It climaxes in a series of nine spectacular, interactive rooms that bring the audience inside of the artworks.
 
The design of Crafted World was led by Ellen van Loon, Partner, and Giulio Margheri, associates in OMA, an architectural practice working in fashion and scenography.