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In the world of contemporary craft, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize is the gold standard – and Singaporean bookbinder Adelene Koh has earned a place on the fiercely competitive shortlist for the annual prize this year.
Launched in 2016, the award is run by the foundation arm of Spanish fashion heavyweight Loewe and draws thousands of submissions from across the globe each year, yet only 30 works ever make the final cut. This year, Koh’s work was shortlisted from more than 5,100 entries across 133 countries – making her only the second Singaporean to be shortlisted since the prize began, after papercut artist Ashley Yeo in 2018. That’s a huge deal.
Koh’s work that took the global stage, Endless, looks deceptively simple at first glance: a compact coil of paper stitched together with a riot of brightly coloured thread. Look closer, and you’ll realise it’s actually a neat technical feat – a traditional endband (those neat little bands at the top and bottom of a book’s spine) blown up, curved into a loop, and made literally endless. Sewn around a single aluminium wire core, the piece uses embroidery threads and an old-school English front bead technique dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.
Her path here has been anything but casual – a Lasalle College of the Arts graduate with a master’s in cultural relic conservation from Tainan National University of the Arts, she trained as a fine bookbinder in London and Tokyo, won her first international prize in 2017, and has since exhibited her work from the US to Japan.
According to The Straits Times, Koh said she was “very shocked” by the news, describing the recognition as validation that even the most meticulous, niche crafts can command a global stage.
And if you’re hoping you’ll get to see the work in person, rejoice – the entire shortlist is heading to the National Gallery Singapore from May 13 to June 14. Ceramics, glass, textiles, metal, jewellery – the whole craft buffet, all under one roof. The winner of the €50,000 prize will also be announced there on May 12, marking the first time the Craft Prize is being presented in Southeast Asia. This puts our city in the company of London, Tokyo, Paris and Madrid. For now, check out the full list of spectacular works online here.
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