ESH Gallery is pleased to open the season of exhibitions with a special event dedicated to the finalists of Loewe Craft Prize 2018.

The prize has arisen from LOEWE Foundation’s idea, founded in 1988 by the Spanish luxury leather goods company. The prize wants to celebrate and promote through exhibitions and events the excellence of the contemporary craft. In this third edition the aim of the prize is enhancing the hand-crafted arts, showing object with a high aesthetic value and related to the Arts and Crafts.

For the first time in Italy, ESH Gallery will present exclusively the artworks of some Loewe Craft Prize’s finalists of 2018, at the heart of design district, Tortona in Milan.

From the 30 finalists selected by the jury, will be exhibited only the artworks with a strong connection with ESH, art gallery focused on contemporary craft and on aesthetic research from the Far East.

Once again the art gallery explores the boundary between contemporary art and modern craft; this research is driven by eastern artists with a strong predilection for materials.

The exhibition wants to celebrate the hand-made and the “material tradition”, according to Loewe’s values, the Spanish maison which is rapidly expanding after the recent Jonathan Anderson’s artistic direction.

Among the artists’ selection will be presented the artwork of the young Chinese Min Chen who, after attending the Domus Academy of Milan, is now focusing his research on the comparison between Eastern tradition and Western inspiration. Folding thin bamboo layers the artist celebrates the peace of mind and the slow rhythm of his home town, giving a glimpse of this vision on contemporary design.

The Japanese Ryhukei Sako innovates the metal tradition with new melting techniques. The selected jar is the perfect union between tradition and cutting-edge research. The artist melted 26 different kinds of alloys; as result, the artwork stands out dynamically and the metal glossiness makes the jar shining.

Shohei Yokoyama is a young artist specialized in glass-blowing: the artwork is a one-meter width bubble made from melted glass at 1200 degrees. The embryonic shape of this artwork, thanks to the artist’s know-how, leads the glass-blowing technique to the primordial act of creation, in which birth is the main symbol.

Above the artworks shown during Milano Design Week 2019, there is the tiny paper sculpture made by 28-year-old Ashley YK Yeo. Her skill in carving delicate materials approached her and the Japanese ceramic master Takeshi Yasuda to the research on the complexity of human spirit.

Yasuda’s artworks are made of Jingdezhen porcelain, Qingbai polish and gold: these three elements are representing the summery between some of the most ancient techniques in the Eastern world.

At this last edition of the Prize will be shown the artworks of two ESH Gallery’s artists too: the glass artworks made by Yoshiaki Kojiro and the Takeshi Igawa’s abstract sculptures, made of urushi lacquer. Both artist were already selected in 2017 Prize edition.

The italian artist Laurenz Stockenr will be the link between Eastern and Western. His one of a kind metal artwork, fragile at the first sight, represents the perfect balance between aesthetic and functionality. His copper bowl has perfect proportions, and its stretching characteristic makes it bended. This unexpected movement attracts at the first sight.

The exhibition wants to present the best in the Eastern artistic craft scenario, where tradition and contemporary are melted in a perfect balance, which always fascinates the West world.