loewe crafted world
tokyo 2025
If experiential marketing was covered like art history, then we are currently living in post-MOICism, years past the peak of the Museum of Ice Cream and 29 Rooms, after a full on global pandemic, and a recalibration of online and offline worlds. It’s an evolution of those early, more plasticky days of pop up exhibitions and photo op experiences that always felt a bit like you could see the tape holding it together if you look too close, and a reaction to them. A bit more mature, a lot more refined. Particularly on the luxury level.
Loewe’s Crafted World embodies the best of what experiential design can be. After all, it was built not by an experiential marketing vendor, but by international architecture firm OMA. After opening in Shanghai in 2024, it landed in Harajuku in the spring of 2025.
It feels equal parts commercial and craft. The brand story is front and center, with signature pieces, iconic collaborations and memorable designs showcased throughout. But there’s also a collection of works from the Craft Art Prize over the years. The breadth and depth of the Loewe brand, in one comprehensive exhibition that is immersive and flows beautifully between each chapter of the brand.
The experience begins with the brand. The history, the logo, the brand values and the various ways it has manifested over the eras of the fashion house. From historic tools and photographs of the first shop in Madrid, to iconic outfits worn by Rihanna and Beyoncé.
It’s fascinating, the way fashion works: a brand being carried on through the visions of creative directors passing the baton, outliving the original artist and expected to evolve with the time to survive, to be deemed successful. But how do you define success for a fashion house? It must simultaneously stay true to its heritage, to its craft, to its history, and yet innovative and forward looking to bring something fresh onto the runway each season. After all, fashion is art as commerce. Whereas the oeuvre of an artist starts and ends with that person, though the works and legacy and value of the art lives on, fashion is passed on from one creative to another.
For the past 11 years, Loewe has thrived under the creative leadership of Jonathan Anderson. This exhibition is, in many ways, a look back on the decade. How the heritage of the Spanish brand stretched to meet the moment again and again.
There’s a wonderful playfulness to the gallery experience. A sense of discovery that comes with each room, the wonder of what might come at the next turn. Perhaps a multimedia display, or a large leather interpretation of Howl’s Moving Castle, or a sticker room that evokes Kusama. The Welcome to Spain section displays are creative, immersive, like little worlds in themselves that you can peer into, dressed up like dioramas, inviting you into the traditional crafts of Spain.
The Atelier
The exhibition carries as much reverence to the process as much as the product. A peek behind the scenes of the patterns behind the puzzle. The Atelier, the tools and materials that make the iconic pieces of the collection. It very much tracks with the unserious Tiktok content they so often push out.
United in Craft
And then there’s the Craft Art Prize room, with meticulously crafted works on display from artists around the world in a breadth of materials and mediums.
Of course, there’s also plenty of fashion. Runway looks on display in a gallery room that makes you lose sense of space as you walk around the dressed mannequins, clips from the runway shows on screens on the walls.
Unexpected Dialogues
And a celebration of collaborations. From New Mexico scenes of Ken Price to the beloved Ghibli collection to the whimsical magic of Japanese ceramicist Suna Fujita to a paper flower garden inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement.
And yes, like any good gallery, the experience ends in a gift shop. Except this gift shop has limited edition products that allure fashion lovers. Perhaps a little ironic, how much you can spend in the gift shop of a free exhibition. But tempting nonetheless.
The thesis is simple: Craft is universal. And Loewe’s world of craft is one that encompasses a breath of styles but a commitment to quality and artistry. Playful and beautiful, and a world that is hard to leave.
see also
LOEWE CRAFT ART PRIZE 2023 @ THE NOGUCHI MUSEUM
SLEEPING BEAUTIES: MET COSTUME INSTITUTE 2024