
Mother
Tongues.
A universal language of craft.
For the 2026 LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize at National Gallery Singapore, Volantt developed and produced a collection of five short films about the people, practices and personal histories behind contemporary craft.
We approached the commission through original storytelling concepts rather than exhibition coverage. At the centre was Mother Tongues, a film about language, culture and the inheritance of craft.
- Commission
- LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize 2026
- Exhibition
- National Gallery Singapore, 13 May to 14 June 2026
- Our role
- Creative direction, original film concepts, interviews, filming, editing and post-production
- Collaboration
- Directions Group
- Collection
- Five short films
당신은 어떻게 공예를 배우셨나요?한국어
Kijan ou te aprann metye ou?Kreyòl ayisyen
Where you learn your craft ah?Singlish
How did you learn your craft?

Craft has no native language.
But every maker speaks it.
Five films. Distinct perspectives. A shared language of making.

Mother Tongues
Artisans speak in their own languages. At first the voices overlap without subtitles, a rhythm before a meaning. Then the subtitles arrive and the same question is heard everywhere: how did you learn your craft?
Watch the film
A Thousand Hands
One question put to every maker: who taught you? The answers are parents, teachers, professors, traditions and themselves. There is no single way to inherit a craft.
Watch the filmEndless

An overlooked bookbinding detail made continuous. A looping soundtrack and drifting colour carry the idea of something that does not end.
Watch the filmLaying Vessel

Material, place and memory in England’s Black Country. Monochrome for the past, colour for the present.
Watch the filmThe Between

Faun’s Flesh in glass. Fragility and permanence, set in atmosphere, shifting colour and motion blur.
Watch the film























Beyond
the object.
Every piece carries the mark of its maker. We set out to discover the stories that could not be seen.
- A cinematic approach to craft. Texture, material and precise composition. Close detail beside wider views of each work in the gallery.
- Authentic voices. Narratives built from what the makers actually said, never from a script they were asked to repeat.
- Sound as story. Overlapping languages in Mother Tongues. A loop in Endless that never resolves.
- One collection, five treatments. Each film has its own narrative, edit and rhythm.










