The opening of a new Casa Loewe in Madrid is a homecoming of sorts for the Spanish house. Despite the brand’s country of origin, the store is Loewe’s first Spanish flagship, and has been remade in line with the retail concept which creative director Jonathan Anderson has introduced since his appointment in 2013.
Anderson applied his characteristic attention to detail to the landmark 19th century building, which sits on the corner of Goya and Serrano streets in the capital’s Salamanca district.
In the Constance Spry-inspired flower shop, Edmund de Waal's 'Sonatas and Interludes', 2015, is on display
‘It is about reconnecting to where Loewe is from,’ says Anderson. ‘It makes complete sense for us to have an incredible store in Madrid.’ Spread over three floors connected by a floating spiral staircase, the nearly 1,000 sq m space is monumental indeed, housing every aspect of the Loewe universe.
A cream-coloured Spanish limestone floor coalesces with neutral wooden fixtures and rugs, that serve as a backdrop for cultural artifacts which Anderson has hand-picked.
An immersive exhibition at Madrid's Botanical Garden features imagery and objects from Loewe’s archive
British art – a Sir Howard Hodgkin print, and a Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley sculpture, for instance – shares the space with a ceramic Windwall installation by the Madrid artist Gloria Garcia Lorca. In the Constance Spry-inspired flower shop, Edmund de Waal's ceramic vessels are also on display.
In the following two months, Loewe will host public events throughout the city, to celebrate the house’s iconography. Madrid’s Botanical Garden envelops visitors with an immersive, collage-like exhibition, 'Past, Present and Future', which juxtaposes imagery and objects from across Loewe’s 170-year existence.
Understandably for such an epic time-span, the accompanying book could not be condensed in any way. Edited by Luis Venegas, who spent months sifting through the archive, it’s a hefty 600-pager full of one-of-a-kind material, some of which the world has never seen before. ‘It’s quite subjective,’ Venegas explains. ‘It’s not about making clear, linear connections. It’s just our favourite side of Loewe.’
A ceramic installation by the Madrid artist Gloria Garcia Lorca, Windwall, occupies a main interior area
The space is monumental, housing every aspect of the Loewe universe. At rear, Sir Howard Hodgkin's As Time Goes By (Orange), 2009–2014
A cream-coloured Spanish limestone floor coalesces with neutral wooden fixtures and rugs, that serve as a backdrop for cultural artifacts
A section is dedicated to the series Flowers, 13 colour that also featured in the S/S 2017 Loewe campaign
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Loewe website
ADDRESS
Casa Loewe
Serrano 34
28001 Madrid
-
From Polestar 1 to Polestar 6, a definitive guide to the acclaimed EV brand's cars and conceptsNow that the new Polestar 3 and 4 are on the road, we take stock of Polestar’s progress and chronicle its evolution, cataloguing all the EV car company’s models and concepts to date
-
The brutal harmony of Villa Caffetto: an Escheresque Italian modernist gemThe Escheresque Italian Villa Caffetto designed by Fausto Bontempi for sculptor Claudio Caffetto
-
Sea change: RDI Julia Lohmann on riding the wave of regenerative designFrom lamps crafted from preserved sheep stomachs to towering sculptures made of seaweed, freshly appointed Royal Designer for Industry Julia Lohmann discusses her boundary-pushing work
-
Scene-stealing runway sets from A/W 2022 menswear showsA Kubrickian space odyssey at Prada; a recreation of the Pont Alexandre III in Paris at Dior; and colourful, artist-created flags at Loewe: explore the best runway sets from the A/W 2022 menswear shows
-
Scene-stealing runway sets from S/S 2022 womenswear showsFrom giant roulette wheels to Olympic diving boards and multi-city synchronized extravaganzas – our pick of the best fashion show sets from S/S 2022 womenswear
-
Men's knitwear designs: wearable works of art?These knitwear designs for spring ensure we're wearing our art on our sleeve
-
Paris Fashion Week A/W 2021: discotheque chic to apres-ski sleek -
Walk this way: navigating S/S 2021's Paris Fashion WeekHow the City of Lights looked to the sartorial realities of our much changed lifestyles
-
Loewe A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's -
Loewe A/W 2020 Paris Fashion Week Men's -
Loewe S/S 2020 Paris Fashion Week Women's
