jongjin park turns folded paper into porcelain for LOEWE craft prize 2026 winning work

"Jongjin Park has won the Loewe Craft Prize 2026 with Strata of Illusion, a ceramic work presented at the National Gallery Singapore as part of this year's finalist exhibition. Made from porcelain, paper, stain, and glaze, the piece sits somewhere between a low chair, a geological sample, and a compressed textile field. Its rectangular body dips inward at the center, while bands of color gather across the surface in layered ridges, folds, and compacted seams."

"The winning work begins with paper. Park coats sheets in porcelain slip tinted with hand-mixed pigments, then folds, stacks, and presses them into dense blocks before firing. In the kiln, the paper disappears while the porcelain hardens, leaving behind the memory of its former structure. The final object keeps the traces of compression and crease, turning a fragile material process into a solid ceramic form."

"Up close, the surface reads as a sequence of pressed layers, with ridged edges and sunken passages that recall sediment, fabric, cardboard, and cut sections of earth. Pale blues, coral reds, chalky yellows, moss greens, and glossy dark passages gather in uneven bands, giving the work a dense, almost upholstered presence without losing the blunt weight of fired clay."

"Instead of representing landscape through image, he studies the slow action of accumulation, pressure, and time, then translates those forces into a ceramic procedure. The work carries that logic materially. Each fold holds a physical decision. Each colored layer marks a stage of coating, stacking, and firing. What appears soft and fibrous is in fact vitrified porcelain."

Jongjin Park won the Loewe Craft Prize 2026 with Strata of Illusion, a ceramic work shown at the National Gallery Singapore. The piece is made from porcelain, paper, stain, and glaze, forming a rectangular body that dips inward and displays layered bands of color. It begins with paper sheets coated in porcelain slip tinted with hand-mixed pigments, then folded, stacked, and pressed into dense blocks before firing. In the kiln, the paper disappears while the porcelain hardens, leaving traces of the original structure. The surface reveals pressed layers, ridged edges, and sunken passages, with colors that suggest sediment, fabric, cardboard, and earth cut sections. The work reflects geological observations of accumulation, pressure, and time through material procedure.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine