In LOEWE, the designer found an immediate kinship. ‘After I’d been there six weeks, what became most important was that the house was way older than anyone still living, and that it was built on some extraordinary skills in craft and making, primarily with leather,’ he says. ‘I visited the Spanish ateliers, and was attracted by something quite genuinely sensuous and soulful that was going on there.’ Anderson began considering what real luxury was about – the answer, he realised, was the pure essence of craftsmanship woven into the fabric of LOEWE’s 175 year-old history.
A passionate collector of craft, Anderson gravitates towards 20th-century British ceramics. ‘I’d been collecting ceramics for a while when I first joined the brand,’ he says, ‘and I realised that these two positions – what LOEWE is about and my obsession for things made out of clay – really did align.’ His personal collection includes works by Lucie Rie, Lynda Benglis, Hans Coper and John Ward. ‘Of course, I’m not a ceramicist, I’m a fashion designer,’ Anderson reflects. ‘In a weird way, the greatest participation I have in the world of ceramics is how I arrange my collection. It’s taught me a lot, especially how important it is to go against the grain, or at least not entirely go with it.’