Tag Archives: Sara Flynn

Craftsmanship & Experience

On 21st January 2020, the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Jury convened in Madrid. Taking advantage of its presence in the Spanish capital, the LOEWE Foundation organized a talk on the subject of contemporary craftsmanship at the Paper Pavillion in the IE School of Architecture & Design, bringing together three members of the Experts Panel: Ramón Puig, Sara Flynn, and Koichi Io. The talk, which took place in English, was moderated by journalist Anatxu Zabalbeascoa.

During his welcome speech, Edgar González, Dean of IE’s Design School, highlighted three fundamental concepts that are at the heart of the LOEWE Foundation philosophy: innovation, tradition, and context. Sheila Loewe, President of the Foundation, introduced the talk’s participants by underscoring the effort put forth during the selection process that had taken place over the previous two days, as they had deliberated and chosen the finalists among more than three-thousand entries. Zabalbeascoa – Executive Secretary of Experts Panel and President of the LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize Jury – explained what had inspired the Foundation when organizing this talk: “We’ve always felt we needed to share all the information we are privy to: images, beauty, good intentions, the breaking down of barriers that is achieved through the work we do…. That is why we love organizing these talks, as much as we love having artists and artisans from all over the world teaching classes or participating in conferences.”

Koichi Io (Tokyo, 1987) embodies a commonality shared by many artists: family tradition. Because his father and grandfather are known metal artists, the concepts of dynasty, hierarchy, and evolution are very much present in all the pieces he creates. The Japanese artist identified three distinct processes that are integral to his work with silver, iron, copper, and aluminum: goldsmithing, casting, and engraving. He showed images of the different types of hammers he keeps in his workshop -anywhere between 200 and 300-, of which he uses 5 to 10 when working on his individual pieces. Koichi pointed out that, in general, he seeks “to eliminate the original function of an object” and then explained how, through traditional metalworking processes, he goes about his work, managing to get to the heart of his pieces.

Sara Flynn (Cork, 1971) studied at the Crawford College of Art & Design. Her workshop – of which she showed numerous images – is in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Flynn, who is one of the Panel’s expert potters, talked about how her mother’s approach to life’s problems had influenced her artistic development. Flynn learned to create with little means, taking advantage of random materials one might come across. The Erskine, Hall & Coe Gallery in Mayfair featured her first solo exhibition in 2012 and Flynn recognizes how important their support has been, as they have organized a biennial exhibition of her work since then. “I wouldn’t be where I am today if it hadn’t been for them,” she says. Flynn’s creative determination has been fundamental in her evolution as an artist, which begun with her first functional clay pieces.

Master Jeweller Ramón Puig Cuyàs (Mataró, 1953) symbolizes Spanish creativity and masterful craftsmanship with pieces that push the boundaries of traditional jewellery. Puig Cuyàs explained how he began making jewellery because he found that, generally speaking, it was uninteresting. While still unsure about what career path to embark upon and against his family’s wishes -who expected him to enter a more traditional field of study – he ended up in Barcelona’s Escola Massana. “When I got there, I felt like I’d finally found my place in the world. It was like being born again.” Although the relationship between a piece of jewellery and its owner is very intimate, the spirit of sharing and expressing was key for Puig Cuyàs. He tried to democratize his pieces by using less expensive materials and creating original pieces, evoking the primitive sense of ornaments, the spiritual sense of jewellery pieces, and avoiding the mere decoration of the body. He concluded by saying, “I feel free when I grab my coffee in the morning and head to my studio to work.”

The evening ended with the artists exchanging ideas about evolution and social change; they questioned the role of craftsmanship in our current field and the emergence of large-scale production and technology; Lynn explained that craftsmanship means “investing in a person over a long period of time and committing to the raw material used. It is a very real thing.” For Io, who produces no more than 30 pieces in a given year, “craftsmanship is like cooking: you have to chop and prep… you have to use your hands,” while for Cuyàs it’s “an alternative to industrial manufacturing, which focuses on low-cost mass production. A year after acquiring it, you are no longer interested in wearing it, while a handmade piece is something you treasure year after year and wear over and over again.” By contrast, he explained, “an industrial product has a price, but no value.”

Photo Captions: Contemporary Craft Talk. Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, Koichi Io, Sara Flynn, and Ramón Puig Cuyàs at the IE Paper Pavillion in Madrid.

Craft experts convene in Madrid

On 22nd January, the LOEWE Foundation and the IED organised a talk on the subject of contemporary craft that brought together some of the most relevant names in design, craft, architecture, journalism, and curation, including Antonia Boström, Sara Flynn, Ramón Puig Cuyàs, Joonyong Kim, and Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, all of them linked to the LOEWE Craft Prize.  Personal experiences, reflections on current creativity, and main sources of inspiration were some of the highlights of this fascinating panel discussion, which took place in English in front of an audience of 120 people.

Anatxu Zabalbeascoa – Journalist, Art Historian, and President of the LOEWE Craft Prize Jury – moderated a discussion among experts as diverse as their roles in today’s craft. The event led to an enjoyable conversation where a number of relevant topics were discussed, including the transition from traditional to artistic craftsmanship, or the importance that beauty and contemporary creation hold in today’s world.

The pieces created by jeweller Ramón Puig Cuyàs, which have been showcased internationally since 1972, are now prominently featured in public and private collections alike. He has been the recipient of the Herbert Hoffman of Munich Award, the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona Special Award or the Danish Craft Bogprice, amongst others. His career, which includes ample teaching experience, has rewarded him with a wisdom he readily transmits in his conversations and speeches.

Antonia Boström –Director of Collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London- spent more than twenty years working in American art museums before returning to the V&A, where her professional career had begun. She has carried out extensive research in the field of sculpture and is a prolific writer in this artistic field. Joonyong Kim is a professor at Cheongju University and a 2018 LOEWE Craft Prize finalist. The work produced by this Korean leading glass artist has been shown in individual and collective exhibitions worldwide. Irish potter Sara Flynn, who was one of the finalists in the first LOEWE Craft Prize, went on to become a member of the Experts Panel in the following two editions. Thanks to her work, for which she is known internationally, Flynn has participated in many artistic retreats abroad, and has had a prolific career as a guest speaker and jury member of numerous craft contests.

A meeting of artists who were not shy in showing their strongest creative weapons. Following their interventions, they answered a large number of questions and received congratulatory feedback from a diverse audience that filled the Aula Magna of the IED Madrid headquarters.

Photo Captions: Antonia Boström talks about her work in the presence of Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, Ramón Puig Cuyàs, Joonyong Kim, and Sara Flynn. Ramón Puig Cuyàs. Sara Flynn and Joonyong Kim © Álvaro Tomé for the LOEWE Foundation.

Art Basel Miami: Chance Encounters III

The LOEWE FOUNDATION presents the third exhibition in its Chance Encounters series, bringing together artists from various disciplines in order to explore unexpected conversations. This year, Sara Flynn, Richard Smith and Lionel Wendt present their works at the LOEWE Miami District store, which was designed around a monumental 18th century granary. “Art and craft are at the centre of my creative process and these exhibitions are an exciting way of exploring artists that are important to me”, says Jonathan Anderson, LOEWE’s Creative Director.

For this edition, Irish ceramist Sara Flynn has been commissioned to produce a new body of ceramic work inspired by the space and materiality of the granary, which was brought over from Portugal and rebuilt stone by stone. Despite using a wheel to throw her pots, her subsequent interventions result in complex and irregular shapes that challenge our reading of the vessels, bringing them into closer dialogue with the language of sculpture. Flynn was one of the 26 finalists of the first LOEWE Craft Prize.

Richard Smith was one of the most original artists of his generation. He emerged in the late 1950s and became known for works that challenged the accepted traditions of painting. His 1975 work Shuttle will be exhibited soaring above the LOEWE store granary. Specially commissioned for the Tate that same year, the installation is comprised of a series of coloured canvases stretched across aluminium rods reminiscent of tent structures. Smith’s work ‘Both Halves (A)’ was acquired by LOEWE in 2016 and is currently displayed in the firm’s Madrid flagship store.

The renowned photographer Lionel Wendt, who was originally trained as a concert pianist, took up photography later in life after studying in the UK. He created a ground-breaking body of work documenting life in his home country of Ceylon as well as homoerotic portraits that were considered radical at the time. After his premature death in 1944, most of his negatives were destroyed. However, his prints were rediscovered in the 1990s and he is now considered one of the key proponents of modernist photography. His work was presented as part of the setting for the LOEWE Fall 2017 collection at the Unesco building in Paris.

Chance Encounters III. From 4th December 2017 to 4th February 2018.
 LOEWE Miami Design District, 110NE 39th Street, Suite #102. Miami, Florida (USA).

Photo Captions: Chance Encounters III © Naho Kubota