Maria Nilsson-Waller
Hello Maria!
You are a multi-creative person… what do you consider yourself?
Do you have any one label or type of outlet that describes you best?
- I’m mostly a choreographer but I also design and make jewellery and also I play in a band. We’re called The Sei and I play banjo, base and strings.
Can you describe what it’s like when you first start something new. Does it usually start like an idea that just needs to come out, is there a problem that needs to be solved or is it a material or something that draws you in? What does that first spark usually look like?
- Oh, wow. Well..often there’s an idea that I want to spend more time with. By trying to translate and transfer that idea to an expression through dance for example I get to process that idea and challenge it and work my way through it. With jewellery it’s different. Then it usually starts in the materials. It’s more about creating something that tickles me and my own style. I mostly make jewellery that I would like to wear myself and the creative process circles more around materials, colors and shapes that just fit right with me at the moment. With music again it’s different. Stace and Ross who are in the band with me have more of the creative lead there and I mostly just try to contribute in the ways I can. I’m really not great at playing Banjo but I find ways to play that works for me and also works for the larger context of the music we create.
Is there any one part of the proccess that you enjoy more?
- The other day I found myself sorting through a huge pile of old jewellery. Many of them were broken and worn. I spent a few days just rummaging through, looking and sorting. After a while it was as if an entire universe began to take shape. It expanded across the table, the floor and filled the carpet. Order began to form and the pieces made families and constellations. To me it’s often the building of that world that both fascinates and challenges me and gets me hooked. It’s a hunt for the patterns, logic or unique character of that specific collection or performance. If it’s a stage performance there are a lot of layers to piece together, there’s light. sound, costume and choreography. All those layers build towards a common whole and at the same time it’s living and breathing through dancers and the audience as well.
This thing about creating and being creative…is it something that gives you energy or consumes energy? Can it make you stressed out that you have something that waits to be made?
- To create gives me energy. What stresses me out is to not have the time to create. To have to juggle so many different tasks and carry so many different hats to create the situation that allows me to create my art. I don’t like multi-tasking really.
Is there any project that you’re longing to get time for at the moment?
- Right now I’m in the middle of a theatre production that premieres our next scene performance and it’s coming up soon. So my focus is just to keep my head above water and try to make time for slowing down now and then. I also dropped off the fall jewelry collection at the store and I think working with that helped create that balance. It’s a healthy calming way of meditating.
What are your thoughts around quality in your creations? What do you think makes something a high quality? Is quality something that you think about when you choose a material or in other aspects of your creativity?
- Definitely to choose materials that will live and last for a long time. Gold, silver, copper and enamel has been around for thousands of years, for a reason. I’m constantly trying to improve in my craft and I test my jewelry to see that they hold the test of time. Do they still feel right to wear after 10 years let’s say? In general I suppose I don’t think as much about quality as I think about presence. I want to work carefully and attentively and pour a lot of my presence and involvement into what I make.
There is so much jewelry, clothes and artifacts available for purchase today and production is faster and easier which brings prices down. Why do you think one chooses to spend the money on something hand made today? Where in lies the value of a piece that’s made by hand?
”MADE BY A HUMAN BEING.
NOT ENTIRELY PERFECT BUT MORE ALIVE..”
- That a craftsperson’s intent and concentration has been integrated into the piece is what I think adds the most value. That it’s made by a human being. Not entirely perfect but more alive and hopefully soulful. And that the materials are pure. Precious stones and metals are a little piece of our planet and having a small piece that turns into your own charm I think is a beautiful gift that’s not to be taken for granted. From earth to you.
Do you have any role models for your creativity?
- It’s not a role model per se but when it comes to jewelry I look a lot at historic jewelry. Swedish folk jewelry from the 1700s, bridal rings, crowns etc. But also from the Antiquity in Greece, Ireland and Nomad traditions. Jewelry that connects with a place, belonging and the different chapters of life.
My greatest inspiration for everything is nature though. So much beauty, light, glitter, forms, colors, life and motion.
There is a notion that craft is expensive. How do you think about pricing your crafted pieces?
- Many craftspeople have very reasonable prices I think. But sure, there is a lot of ignorance and a lack of understanding for what it takes to create something. It takes a lot of time. And materials are expensive to begin with. What I struggle to understand is why so many factory produced, imported products are so expensive even though they are made under terrible conditions. There are a lot of overprices that we don’t reflect over where the conditions for workers, sustainability and just respectful production is not in place.
Have you ever reflected on why you create? What is your driving force?
- Hmm - that’s a very difficult question! I always had that in me I think even as a child. The motivation is that it feels good, it’s fun, usually, and feels like a very natural part of being me.
What are you most proud to have created?
- That’s also a very difficult question. When something is finished it’s usually not very interesting to me anymore. I start looking for something new to dive into. Stage art is different in that it disappears when we leave the room. I think I’m most proud to have gathered good friends and colleagues around myself and that we can collaborate in a good way. That we can create the place and environment where work happens together.
