An otter, a wading bird, a dragon fly and a dodo walk into the Loewe workshop. Why? For Loewe’s William De Morgan-inspired, ready-to-wear capsule collection, a sartorial ode to the late arts and crafts ceramist. These four images are distinctive in De Morgan’s work, and through Jonathan Anderson’s offbeat yet ingenious lens, come to life in a new range of ready-to-wear and accessories for men and women.

Via a sublime combination of stop-motion animation and live action, the production of craft is put in the spotlight fo a campaign which bears the stamp of Anderson’s proclivity for art. It’s well-documented the designer has a deep passion for art and it’s this which has more or less steered the Loewe ship since his appointment as Creative Director. But for this capsule collection he arrived at William De Morgan, a British ceramist who was renowned for his fantastic creatures and oral arabesques, and for whom Anderson is a personal fan.

Through unique production techniques, the models in the new campaign were able to interact with a fantastical setting whereby anything is possible. Despite the 60-second film, ‘An Otter’s Tale’, being a Christmas film, there is not a tree, tinsel or gaudy bauble in sight. “This campaign defies all Christmas clichés,” explains Anderson. “The English potter William De Morgan was the main inspiration for the new collection and his work lent itself very well as a starting point for a darkly strange and fun film which epitomises the collection.’

The attention paid to the finest details of the production highlights the world class craftsmanship that characterises the Loewe William De Morgan capsule collection, which among its array of luxurious ready-to-wear items, includes a striking black leather jacket with a crimson dodo painted on its back and a peacock-print trench coat in indigo, cerulean and green. A large team of around 60 people worked on the ad, not including the choir, while the variety of sets – including a forest, a valley, a flower bush and a skeleton cave – were made with fabric, cut and sewn painstakingly by hand.

LOEWE’s William De Morgan-inspired collection launches on 15 November along with a cinema release.