Craft Culture

Loewe pays tribute to lesser-known artisanal textile craft from around the world with a collection of tote bags, blankets and tapes tries at the Salon del Mobile in Milan this year , writes Cheryl Chan

Mention the words atelier and craftsmanship, especially in the context of an age-old luxury fashion house, and one tends to conjure a vision of hauntingly beautiful couture, a confection of expertly draped fabrics and an abundance of hand embroidery and sequins. But at the 57th Salone del Mobile in Milan in April, Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson sought to change this perception by collaborating with more than 100 ateliers from all over the world to create a series of tote bags and special-order tapestries and blankets. While these ateliers might not be the celebrated couture studios that we are more familiar with, each one is a specialist in its own traditional craft, with artisans dedicating their lives to perfecting their art. Together with the expertise of Loewe’s workshops, the collaborations have resulted in the birth of a range of incomparable textile craft techniques that are rooted in cultural tradition and the unique generation-transferred savoir faire of the particular area of origin. As a way of bridging traditional and modern techniques, and to honour Loewe’s commitment to preserving the crafts, the fabrications were created in the atelier’s country of origin. The assembly of the bags, however, were done at the fashion house’s workshops in Spain. We explore the makings of two different fabrics, one from France and the other from Ecuador.