Following the success of the Prada epicentres in New York and Los Angeles in early 2000s, OMA started to collaborate with the brand on sets for its runway shows. “Because we work a lot on theatres, scenography is [a very natural] thing, so anything that involves a show or scenery for us was quite normal,” Van Loon explains. The architect’s approach, whether designing half a million sq ft of department store space, public buildings or an exclusive fashion show hosting just a few hundred guests, is pretty much the same.

“Our whole team [is made up of ] architects; we have a more architectural and theoretical approach to these kinds of things,” she says. “At a certain point, you see that with brands [like] Loewe, there is not a clear [divide] between fashion, art and architecture. Artists, architects or poets, we all think in the same way ... it’s just about design. The only difference is the output.”

When you step inside the world that Loewe and OMA have built, a retrospective split into six thematic chapters that condense nearly two centuries of heritage and illustrate the brand’s idiosyncratic sense of play, you get the sense that Van Loon is underselling the effort, sophisticated decisions and precise execution that go into the design process.

“When we start working with brands that have such a rich history, the first thing we always ask the brands is ‘We want to see archives from day one till now, and we also want to see your factory,’ [which] is actually the first inspiration. And then we [ask] Jonathan [Anderson] and other people in the company which elements are interesting to combine [as a story],” Van Loon tells Tatler. “I think Loewe is quite an eclectic brand. For most people, it’s a brand that presents [itself ] on different levels—sometimes in art, sometimes in fashion—so it can go anywhere. It’s very interesting during this exhibition that for once we’re trying to show all the components.”

It feels very natural that the eventual theme chosen for the exhibition is “Craft”; not only because the brand originated as a Madrid leather-making collective, but also because all the recent works and artist collaborations that the brand has achieved during Anderson’s tenure are rooted in artisanship. The first part of the exhibition, Born From The Hand, documents the house’s historic monuments—from its 19th-century origins to its official appointment to the Spanish royal family; from modern advertising materials to recent costumes created for Rihanna and Beyoncé that will go down in pop culture history.

Before visitors move to the upstairs spaces, they must ascend a “pronunciation tunnel” lined with screens featuring friends of the brand such as Chinese actress Yang Mi correctly pronouncing the brand name—“Lo-ev-eh” or “Lo-weh- vay”. The pronunciation makes more sense when you learn—as the Rotterdam-based architect did during her research—that the brand was founded by Enrique Loewe y Roessberg, a German merchant who ended up in Madrid. “You cannot imagine how different the German culture is to the Spanish one. Germany is a country of making crafts and Spain too, so these two came together in Madrid. From there, it became a very Spanish brand and, later on, a more international group. So that was interesting to me.”

The 17,000-sq ft exhibition allows Anderson’s curation and the designs of Van Loon and fellow OMA architect Giulio Margheri to really come together in a journey of spaces and senses, while also containing unexpected encounters and juxtapositions. One room transports visitors to Spain, with a digitised Ibiza decorated with Picasso ceramics, national artefacts and Loewe’s free-spirited Paula’s Ibiza pieces. Inside The Atelier room, a curved wall is hung with all the tools needed to assemble a bag. There is also an entire room dedicated to winners of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, an annual award given for an original work of applied art, the building’s original chandeliers perfectly blending into the display.

“We always struggle a bit with the fact that you [design] interiors without seeing the outer shell. For an exhibition, it is complicated because we have to build quite a lot of these interior shells, but in many spaces [here], we really make openings to reveal some of the architecture of the existing buildings. That is really an architectural choice; it always needs to be connected,” Van Loon says.

The Craft Prize room is connected to a space that serves as a museum displaying 69 men’s and women’s runway looks designed by Anderson since his appointment as creative director in 2013. “Ten years of work was also a big question for him: which pieces do you consider to be the most characteristic?” She explains that the designer personally selected and orchestrated the layout. From the playful trompe l’oeil dresses to the sculptural, armour- like creations, it’s eye candy to any fashion fan.

Among the more than 600 objects and products on display are any number that encourage visitors to not just look, but also touch, including a two-metre-tall reproduction of the brand’s Howl’s Moving Castle bag. We ask Van Loon which chapter is her favourite; she excitedly names the nine-room exploration of Loewe’s recent artist collaboration. “What I do like about this exhibition is that when you go through [each room], your senses are really triggered. Of course, that was also the intention,” she says, “because [there’s] no point to go to an exhibition when you can’t feel the design; you might as well stay at home and do it all digitally.”

The idea, she explains, was “to [transform] the feeling around products into a room, so it becomes more architectural and less logical”. Spaces in this section include a room featuring collages by American artist and writer Joe Brainard; a mirrored infinity room; and a space dedicated to Japanese ceramicist duo Suna Fujita, featuring walls adorned with circular cutouts, enticing viewers to lean in closer and appreciate the whimsical details on ceramic vases and teapots. Weaver John Allen’s carpets fill an entire room from floor to ceiling, immersing visitors in a textile wonderland; and, of course, a dreamworld where Studio Ghibli videos wrap a room with pieces from the Loewe collaboration on the wall and a life-size Totoro rump to lie on.

Loewe Crafted World, which was set to run in Shanghai until May 5 before touring around the world, exemplifies how luxury brands are engaging with the current generation of audiences through the format of exhibitions. In the past five years, every brand from storied houses like Chanel and Dior to the likes of Rimowa, Prada and futuristic eyewear label Gentle Monster has been holding travelling and local exhibitions, and architects are part of this growing phenomenon. “In the beginning, I was a bit surprised about why they were all doing it. At the same time, I also understand, because some brands have a very strong history [to share],” says Van Loon. As someone who first headed to China in the mid- 2000s—she worked on the CCTV Tower project—she is cognisant of global brands’ desire to educate Asian customers in particular on the house’s history: “International luxury brands arrived in China relatively recently. I think people in Asia have known these brands for the last ten years but not much before.”

Van Loon was headed to Mexico after her Shanghai visit; her projects for the year include another exhibition for a storied maison, an office for Jacquemus in Paris and the courthouse in Lille. “[The projects are] not all fashion, but the mix is very important,” she says. “Fashion can become quite artificial, and I think we can bring a kind of new layer to this endeavour.”

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