{"id":3009,"date":"2015-05-27T22:17:57","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T22:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/?p=3009"},"modified":"2015-05-28T14:34:11","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T14:34:11","slug":"a-revival-of-spanish-tradition-and-crafts-jonathan-andersons-loewe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/?p=3009","title":{"rendered":"A modern twist on Spanish tradition: at Loewe with JW Anderson"},"content":{"rendered":"

My love for the traditional crafts of Spain runs deep. I have written about Spanish\u00a0azulejos<\/a><\/span><\/strong>, esparto<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0and cork<\/a><\/span><\/strong>\u00a0, as well as the fervent defenders of our wonderful national artistry such as the late decorator Jaime Parlad\u00e9<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n

I therefore take my hat off to Jonathan Anderson at Loewe and his accomplishments as the recently appointed art director of the cult Spanish brand.<\/p>\n

I recently saw a very inspiring presentation at Loewe in Madrid celebrating a kind of return to the sources with an exhibition of works of the radical Spanish architect Javier Carvajal (1926-1913). Carvajal designed the brand’s flagship stores and Barcelona headquarters in the 50’s and 60’s, as well as the Spanish Pavilion at the World Fair in New York, 1964.<\/p>\n

Carvajal \u00a0accomplished this in a Spain still recovering from a long post war period. “He recovered craftsmanship, tradition, sobriety and the luxury of the material. He took the house of Loewe back to it’s essential reality : \u00a0Spanish culture”<\/em>\u00a0(\u00a0Enrique Loewe for El Pais\u00a0<\/a>)<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0and this bold move and choice by Enrique Loewe propelled the house to the pages the international architectural magazines. It was a huge step forward in the modernization of the brand and Carvajal introduced this internationally. \u00a0From W Magazine<\/a>: \u00a0\u201cHis early stores were an interpretation of Swedish culture in a Spanish context,\u201d<\/em> Anderson says. \u201cWhich is kind of wrong but actually works really well.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 So even if the new Loewe is about days on the beach, Anderson feels it needs to be presented in a cultured, domestic, and architecturally literate setting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"javier<\/a><\/p>\n

Above: The Carvajal-designed Loewe shop in Barcelona, 1964. Image courtesy of Loewe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Below: Detail of the Spanish pavilion designed by Carvajal for the World Fair, New York 1964. Image courtesy of Loewe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"javier<\/a><\/p>\n

Below: Spanish carpets and textiles inside the Spanish Pavilion designed by Carvajal. Image courtesy of Loewe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"javier<\/a><\/p>\n

Below: Chair designed by Javier Carvajal for Loewe and redesigned in 2014 by Jonathan Anderson. Image courtesy of Loewe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Loewe<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Carvajal<\/a><\/p>\n

Below: Chair designed by Javier Carvajal for the Loewe shop in Madrid, 1959.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Carvajal<\/a><\/p>\n

Below : Another beautiful initiative by Jonathan Anderson for Loewe to celebrate leather, the label’s key material. \u00a0The leather bowls are by Jos\u00e9 Luis Baz\u00e1n,\u00a0Spanish craftsman and leather expert, who has been invited to realize the collection, inspired by noted potter Lucie Rie and applying\u00a0a modern take on traditional techniques.\u00a0Using an age-old method, each piece is\u00a0submerged in water and then shaped by hand to create one-of-a-kind vessels\u00a0both decorative and fully-functional. Three sets of 50 unique bowls will be on sale, each, as the brand describe, \u201cforming an ensemble that plays with scale and perception, blurring the boundary between sculpture and design.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Photo courtesy of Loewe.<\/p>\n

\"leather<\/a><\/p>\n

\"leather<\/a><\/p>\n

Below: Under JW’s creative direction, Loewe\u2019s first North American shop in the\u00a0\u00a0Miami Design District\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. A massive 18 th-century granary or\u00a0h\u00f3rreo<\/em>\u00a0sits in the middle of the space. A visual shock, so modern : the combination of natural sunlight with the raw stone, the pure lines, the tan leather, matte white marble floor, the simple and slightly rustic iron clothes racks and hangers.\u00a0The\u00a0h\u00f3rreo\u00a0was retrieved from a town bordering northern Spain (Galicia) and Portugal and brought to the boutique as a symbol of Loewe\u2019s cultural fluidity: Past and present, Europe and North America, existing harmoniously in the upscale Miami Design District.<\/em><\/p>\n

The boutique, large and luminous, is also supremely nostalgic, as one can instantly tell from the massive 18th-century granary at the center of the space.<\/em><\/p>\n

Admirers of the 169-year-old label will think it normal to find a stone barn from the Middle Ages (which had to taken apart and rebuilt for the space) inside a thoroughly modern structure; think museum lighting, smoke-colored walls, stone flooring and vast windows. In part, it follows the brand\u2019s architectural tradition from the 1950s and \u201860s when radical architect Javier Carvajal designed the brand\u2019s flagship stores and Barcelona headquarters. The bold structure is also reflective of Anderson, whose appointment as the Madrid-based brand\u2019s creative director marked a new direction for Loewe\u2014which evolved from luxury leather retailer to \u201cofficial supplier to the Spanish Royal Crown\u201d to haute Spanish commodity with a decidedly fresh look. \u201cIt\u2019s part of the knowledge of where Loewe is from, transferred to another time and place,\u201d said Anderson. What was once a functional storehouse for grains is now the backdrop for the latest collections, including the iconic Amazona bag (in updated materials) and the Puzzle, Anderson\u2019s completely new contribution to the brand\u2019s repertoire and already a best-seller.<\/em><\/p>\n

Brilliant !<\/p>\n

\"loewe<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"loewe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My love for the traditional crafts of Spain runs deep. I have written about Spanish\u00a0azulejos, esparto\u00a0and cork\u00a0, as well as the fervent defenders of our wonderful national artistry such as the late decorator Jaime Parlad\u00e9. I therefore take my hat off to Jonathan Anderson at Loewe and his accomplishments as the recently appointed art director […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[68,4,43,2],"tags":[1108,1106,1107,1103,1104,1105,1101,1102,1098],"class_list":["post-3009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-inspiration","category-things-that-work-for-me","category-travel","tag-granary-loewe-shop-miami","tag-hhorreo-miami-shop-loewe","tag-horreo-miami-shop-loew","tag-javier-carvajal-chair-loewe","tag-javier-carvajal-loewe-shop","tag-javier-carvajal-spanish-pavilion","tag-jonathan-anderson-loewe","tag-jonathan-anderson-loewe-chair","tag-loewe-chairs-javier-carvajal-jonathan-anderson"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/loewe-Horreo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3BVEi-Mx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3009"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3018,"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3009\/revisions\/3018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fashionsphinx.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}