The article was written by Ellen Rydelius and published in Svenska Dagbladet. Translated by Fern Scott, 2024. By Ellen Rydelius
Lund's diamond philosopher and dynamic silversmith. A visit to the silversmith from Lund whose crosses of rock crystals are famous around the world.
Nothing is harder or more reliable than a diamond. The diamond is one of the few eternal values. Everything comes and goes, regimes can be overthrown and entire people wiped out, philosophical systems can flourish and wither, values can be reassessed - but the diamond remains. It is constant. Stocks and bank vaults are adventures in comparison with this wonderful thing that is the diamond. It is magnificent, no matter whichever way you look at it.
It is the diamond philosopher, the art theorist and court jeweller Wiwen Nilsson in Lund, who sits before me smiling and telling me such fabulous things. He himself is a great philosopher. And his brain is also hard and well trained. His favourite author is Master Eckehart, the medieval mystic and philosopher of infinity, and it is in the medieval cultural world, with its restraint and majestic rhythm, that Wiwen Nilsson likes to spend his leisure time, whenever the Egyptian Golden Age with its reliefs has not claimed his attention.
Don't get the idea that our famous Lund silversmith is a mossy philosopher with an “umbrella and lost galoshes”. There is no trace of medieval mysticism in his appearance. He is a well-groomed, modern gentleman who welcomes visitors - and there are many from all over the world - to his world-famous store in Lund with a winning smile as he takes them on a rare journey of discovery among silver, gold and precious stones.
In his field Wiwen Nilsson has finally become a fashion philosopher in his own right. But like all other pioneers, he had to fight a long and hard battle before he achieved recognition and fame.
I was scolded at the Gothenburg exhibition in 1923, he says. I was told that I was a brute in my handling of silver. Specifically, it was my treatment of the silver that was considered raw. Well, that was a long time ago, and the year after the exhibition and the scolding, the Norwegians came to Stockholm with a similar technique, and with them came the breakthrough and public acceptance. Now I am no longer a brute. At least not as a silversmith. It is no longer difficult for people to appreciate the beauty of flat surfaces. Tastes have become more refined. The time of the old ornaments and frills is over - and may the memory of them rest in peace! When it comes to silver and surfaces, I absolutely prefer naked culture. All ornamentation is of evil, born exclusively from the pure terror of emptiness or ugliness. Silver and flat surfaces have their own beauty, style, and unique expression. It is just a question of finding the right means of expression. The Egyptians understood this, and it was also understood in the Middle Ages, when it was possible to interpret the secrets of the surfaces. Even a surface must be able to express tension and movement, it can also be intense and rhythmically articulated. It doesn't have to be a lifeless, ornate pancake that has been plagiarised from nature. I like to use the term dynamic to distinguish this surface treatment from the static one that we must increasingly try to overcome. And we have excellent role models. Just look at Lund Cathedral. This is magnificent, beautiful and dynamic art.
The symbol of the cross has long captured Wiwen Nilsson's imagination. His crosses of rock crystals are also world famous. The collection he presented at the Paris Expo is captivating.
“Yes, it is the incredible intensity of this symbol that enchants me," he says of the cross. “The cross is the simplest and at the same time the most powerful dynamic expression I know. Nothing unnecessary or ornamental. But passionate and full of character.”
It is obvious that Wiwen Nilsson is talking about sacred things when it comes to silver surfaces and dynamic art. His silversmith's workshop is an arsenal for the ideas and ideals that he has developed and to which he now faithfully devotes his energies. To have the chance to go behind the curtains and enter the most sacred place, the armoury, is a unique experience. It is full of Mexican fire opals, Irish river pearls, chrysolites and many, many other remarkable stones. It is here, in this Faustian chamber in Lund, that the little miracles of Wiwen Nilsson are created!
But he does have the noble art of goldsmithing in his blood. His father (sic) was Lund's first goldsmith. He opened his workshop in 1848 in the same building where Gleerups Bookshop can now be found. In those days, one did not stand behind a counter and sell such valuables. They were made to order. Customers would sit in a rocking chair in the foyer and place their orders, which were then passed on to the workshop to be made.
Wiwen Nilsson represents a new generation, a new time and a new style. His years of study in Germany and Paris are over, although he will never consider himself fully educated, as any true artist never will. And an artist he is – down to his fingertips, one might add, if that was not a given for any goldsmith. His art has also conquered the metropolises, and the strange thing is that long before his fiftieth birthday, in his own country, in his own province, in his own town, he has become not only a recognised jeweller but also an appreciated respected prophet in relation to silver and gold and in very precious stones. His silver workshop has already become a mecca for the art of silversmithing, and in Skåne there is hardly a day of significance in a person's life without thoughts and orders going to Wiwen Nilsson in Lund.
