‘Drip Too Lagom: En Svensk Fucking Flex’
Iced out white gold, Colorful gemstones, and enamel.
Bling communicates success and is a place to express one’s individuality, depicting anything from classic symbols to modern logos or cartoon characters.
But what happens if you apply American bling to Swedish symbols? And what are the differences between American and Swedish pop culture? If we change white gold to aluminium and enamel to spray paint?
If instead of drip too hard, drip too lagom.
Current Obsession: What ideas or themes inspire your work?
Douglas Tillberg: I’m very intrigued by my identity in this globalised, Americanised, digital age that’s so full of references, so it’s a lot about traditions and pop culture. The last year especially, I’ve been exploring hiphop bling and logomania and comparing them to Swedish ‘folkhem’ symbols that are tightly connected to government and state. Why am I so nostalgic towards old Swedish symbols from before my time when there are so many new logos and brands I can pin to my identity?
‘Why am I so nostalgic towards old Swedish symbols from before my time when there are so many new logos and brands I can pin to my identity?’
CO: How do you envision the future of the field you have chosen and your practice within it?
DT: I don’t know what the future will look like, but finishing school gives me more space to do the stuff I haven’t gotten around to yet. I really want to make sculptures right now. My work sometimes gets interpreted as commercial, but I very much view my practice as art-jewelry. In a sense I guess that’s the highest praise, when you try to make commentary but the result is so close to the real thing that it might as well be.
CO: Could you describe your approach, and how does it reflect tradition, current trends or push boundaries within the field?
DT: I’m very inspired by tradition, you can’t break rules without knowing them kind of, but also pitting tradition against the current. I work very much from the raw first feeling, like choosing a symbol to work with isn’t as much about looking through 100s of symbols but more about stumbling upon the perfect one. It’s about living life, what needs to be created inevitably reveals itself.
SO MINT! is a series of posts on fresh graduates in fashion, jewellery and design from around the world. Handpicked by Current Obsession.
Images by: Elias Chaabane
Follow Douglas on Instagram: @Tillberg.POK
Mail: bling.tillberg@gmail.com
