Jewellery

Wiwen Nilsson played a vital role in elevating jewellery design in Sweden, and the unveiling of his jewellery collection at Stockholmsutställningen (The Stockholm Exhibition) in 1930 signalled a landmark moment for Swedish jewellery design. It was here that Wiwen Nilsson showcased pieces featuring large rock crystals for the first time to a significant audience.

He is credited with introducing the cross into Swedish jewellery design, which until this point had primarily served as a manifestation of Christian faith.

Wiwen Nilsson’s jewellery collection – comprising large rock crystals and necklaces with his distinctive crosses – achieved early success in Sweden and internationally. Following Stockholmsutställningen in 1930, his jewellery became a fixture at exhibitions in the UK, Europe and the USA, including the XIX Biennale di Venezia (19th Venice Biennale) in 1934, the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life) in Paris, and the New York World’s Fair, in 1939, titled The World of Tomorrow.

Wiwen Nilsson worked with gold, platinum, silver, gemstones, rock crystals and onyx. His body of work was significant. His creations in silver using large rock crystals, often combined with onyx, enabled him to reach a broader public. The affordability of rock crystals compared to gemstones also allowed him to experiment with stone cuts and formats.

Wiwen Nilsson typically used large stones, favouring an adaptation of the table cut, which features a flat top and refracts light in a defined manner. The stones were often rectangular or square, though sometimes hexagonal and octagonal. Wiwen Nilsson believed that certain contemporary cuts, such as the brilliant cut, dissolved all form and gave the resulting light a glittering quality devoid of any form. He typically used a stepped setting for stones, referring to the step-like transition from the stone to the ring itself. However, he also designed an innovative bezel for setting stones that gives the impression of the stone hovering above the finger, with the stone set high above the band.

In the 1950s, Wiwen Nilsson introduced brooches inspired by ancient East Asian art. Wiwen Nilsson references a visit to the Museo d’Arte Orientale Venezia as the main source of his inspiration to create this collection. During this period he also introduced planar geometric brooches, inspired by sketches from his time in Hanau and Paris in the 1920s. These same sketches also formed the foundation for some of his reliefs and sculptures during the 1950s.