We live seeking answers to questions. But living with questions - of what has been and is to come - can be an expansive way to learn about the world. Artist, philosophizer, and digital fashion designer Edvard Nielsen builds his practice upon the unknown. Edvard’s Mexico City home is filled with books ancient and modern, tarot decks, and artworks exploring the spiritual, mystical, and evolution of human consciousness. We met with Edvard to chat about his otherworldly digital designs and what he believes the Multiverse offers. He had just wrapped our editorial shoot at the Tlatelolco Archaeological site in Mexico City, the perfect location to capture his collection, inspired by pre-hispanic codices and cosmic travelers of times past and yet to be touched.
Your designs are placed in history, and in the future, in the metaphysical and mysterious. Where did this interest stem from?
I was born in Mexico City at the end of the 70's to a Franco-Spanish father and a Danish mother. Growing up I was forging a disruptive and rebellious identity. I was in a country alien to my genetic roots and a household with a religious and spiritual, ideological and cultural opposition.
How has your diasporic upbringing shaped your artistic practice?
Being situated between conflicting languages, customs and values, I developed a surreal, protopic vision. This shows up in my personal, artistic and creative career with a certain curiosity, intrigue, unpredictability. I’m sometimes totally misunderstood, or dismissed as crazy, but sometimes seen as an inspiring person out of this time. Perhaps that is why I believe in Quantum Sciences and in some philosophical and spiritual technologies such as the original Kabbalah.
I was born in Mexico City at the end of the 70's to a Franco-Spanish father and a Danish mother. Growing up I was forging a disruptive and rebellious identity. I was in a country alien to my genetic roots and a household with a religious and spiritual, ideological and cultural opposition.
How has your diasporic upbringing shaped your artistic practice?
Being situated between conflicting languages, customs and values, I developed a surreal, protopic vision. This shows up in my personal, artistic and creative career with a certain curiosity, intrigue, unpredictability. I’m sometimes totally misunderstood, or dismissed as crazy, but sometimes seen as an inspiring person out of this time. Perhaps that is why I believe in Quantum Sciences and in some philosophical and spiritual technologies such as the original Kabbalah.
You also have an interest in Tarot.
Yes, I collect modern and ancient Tarot decks. I love the old ones in particular, because of the history they have when they come into my hands. Tarot is a deep knowledge that allows us to discover ourselves. It is an incredible tool!
What have you discovered about yourself?
I am like The Fool and The World in Tarot: jumping from one reality to another, from one world to another, searching for a higher level of consciousness every second, in every breath, in every stroke and in every thought. I move as the Priestess, who is the consciousness of the unconscious, who has the GPS of knowledge, and as the Empress, who generates life. In my case this life is stories, artistic works and my creations.
Yes, I collect modern and ancient Tarot decks. I love the old ones in particular, because of the history they have when they come into my hands. Tarot is a deep knowledge that allows us to discover ourselves. It is an incredible tool!
What have you discovered about yourself?
I am like The Fool and The World in Tarot: jumping from one reality to another, from one world to another, searching for a higher level of consciousness every second, in every breath, in every stroke and in every thought. I move as the Priestess, who is the consciousness of the unconscious, who has the GPS of knowledge, and as the Empress, who generates life. In my case this life is stories, artistic works and my creations.
For our editorial, you chose to shoot at the Tlatelolco in Mexico City. What is the significance of this ancient site?
The Tlatelolco was erected to honor various pre-Hispanic gods. History has been written and rewritten in multiple ways but the vestiges of distant times prevails in this place. The terraces, then as now, are those places that bring us closer to the sky, to the stars, to our true spiritual home. Shooting at this location is a way of telling our users not to forget to be close to the stars and ready to take off.
The Tlatelolco was erected to honor various pre-Hispanic gods. History has been written and rewritten in multiple ways but the vestiges of distant times prevails in this place. The terraces, then as now, are those places that bring us closer to the sky, to the stars, to our true spiritual home. Shooting at this location is a way of telling our users not to forget to be close to the stars and ready to take off.
“The Cosmic Traveler is one who recognizes that he is only a tiny part within this great whole.”
The Tlatelolco is also home to many Stelae, ancient stone slabs or columns, inscribed with codexes. Can you tell me about what their inscriptions or designs communicate?
The steles are the material evidence of ancient knowledge that have given rise to the history of humanity. But the most surprising thing is that they reveal knowledge about the functional rules of the entire quantum system of the multiverse full of universes. Our universe is just one point within that. This evidence reiterates, in all ancient cultures, continents and ancient civilizations, that we are part of something much bigger, something sacred, and that we live in it and within it. They all speak of the one. Everything starts from the one and that one is everything.
The steles are the material evidence of ancient knowledge that have given rise to the history of humanity. But the most surprising thing is that they reveal knowledge about the functional rules of the entire quantum system of the multiverse full of universes. Our universe is just one point within that. This evidence reiterates, in all ancient cultures, continents and ancient civilizations, that we are part of something much bigger, something sacred, and that we live in it and within it. They all speak of the one. Everything starts from the one and that one is everything.
And this was the inspiration for your ASTRONAUTAS collection?
In Mexico there are codexes of practically every structure generated within each society; Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Aztec and Maya... The ASTRONAUTAS collection is inspired by codexes which reveal that the ancients knew about journeys through time and between worlds. Maybe they did it themselves. Pakal the Great is a key figure. He is known as the Mayan astronaut who directed Palenque between the years 615 and 685. It is said that in his tomb Pakal had the means to visit outer space and even to travel through time. On his tombstone Pakal is portrayed sitting in a kind of ship with his hands and feet seemingly operating the board and the pedals. The design and symbology within the collection stems from the study of this tombstone.
In Mexico there are codexes of practically every structure generated within each society; Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Aztec and Maya... The ASTRONAUTAS collection is inspired by codexes which reveal that the ancients knew about journeys through time and between worlds. Maybe they did it themselves. Pakal the Great is a key figure. He is known as the Mayan astronaut who directed Palenque between the years 615 and 685. It is said that in his tomb Pakal had the means to visit outer space and even to travel through time. On his tombstone Pakal is portrayed sitting in a kind of ship with his hands and feet seemingly operating the board and the pedals. The design and symbology within the collection stems from the study of this tombstone.
“This evidence reiterates, in all ancient cultures, continents and ancient civilizations, that we are part of something much bigger, something sacred, and that we live in it and within it.”
Your Edvard Nielsen Signature x Special Items collection shares this concept in a prismatic colorscape.
This collection is the combination of the revelations of this ancient knowledge, mixed with quantum mechanics - the branch of physics that studies nature at an atomic and subatomic level. It looks at their interactions with electromagnetic radiation and other forces; that is why the colors and the symbology are so contemporary.
You write that your digital fashion collections serve to transform each wearer into cosmic travelers. Who is the modern day cosmic traveler?
The Cosmic Traveler is one who recognizes that he is only a tiny part within this great whole. They know that within the whole, there are infinite realities and moments within time. Every dream, thought, emotion, action, creation or deja vu; they are not a product of the imagination. The cosmic traveler knows they are a product of your very experiences within this consciousness, inside or outside what we know.
This collection is the combination of the revelations of this ancient knowledge, mixed with quantum mechanics - the branch of physics that studies nature at an atomic and subatomic level. It looks at their interactions with electromagnetic radiation and other forces; that is why the colors and the symbology are so contemporary.
You write that your digital fashion collections serve to transform each wearer into cosmic travelers. Who is the modern day cosmic traveler?
The Cosmic Traveler is one who recognizes that he is only a tiny part within this great whole. They know that within the whole, there are infinite realities and moments within time. Every dream, thought, emotion, action, creation or deja vu; they are not a product of the imagination. The cosmic traveler knows they are a product of your very experiences within this consciousness, inside or outside what we know.
And your garments can act as a talisman. And your digital items contain their own power - to transport the wearer?
Definitely yes, in each creation there is an intention. In every intention there is energy. From the creator's mind comes physical and digital actions. Each garment is created by pixels and each one of them is pure energy. My intention is that this allows us to discover freedom from other forms. With each action and each thought we are co-creating a world within other worlds.
“With each action and each thought we are co-creating a world within other worlds.”
What opportunities do you see evolving from the various realities generated in the Metaverse?
We now have new metaverses added to the Multiverses. It is an opportunity to realize that we can exist on different planes, that our consciousness can expand to any world created by our Personal Quantum. But you have to be prepared for it. Many people will make a quantum leap of conscious evolution, but many will get lost in the attempt. We have to prepare our conscious and subconscious mind for it, enjoy the journey between worlds and not lose ourselves. These tangible and intangible spaces will make many people question their very existence in times to come.
What is exciting you about the digital fashion movement?
New philosophical and ontological currents are going to be generated. It will no longer be just about gender identity, sexuality, values; I think it will be about the depth, the background and not the form. Could it be that we really know who we are and who we are being? There will be beautiful things, but it will also show the opposite of what we are capable of being. That is the door that I think we have opened.
Shop Edvard’s Collection
Definitely yes, in each creation there is an intention. In every intention there is energy. From the creator's mind comes physical and digital actions. Each garment is created by pixels and each one of them is pure energy. My intention is that this allows us to discover freedom from other forms. With each action and each thought we are co-creating a world within other worlds.
“With each action and each thought we are co-creating a world within other worlds.”
What opportunities do you see evolving from the various realities generated in the Metaverse?
We now have new metaverses added to the Multiverses. It is an opportunity to realize that we can exist on different planes, that our consciousness can expand to any world created by our Personal Quantum. But you have to be prepared for it. Many people will make a quantum leap of conscious evolution, but many will get lost in the attempt. We have to prepare our conscious and subconscious mind for it, enjoy the journey between worlds and not lose ourselves. These tangible and intangible spaces will make many people question their very existence in times to come.
What is exciting you about the digital fashion movement?
New philosophical and ontological currents are going to be generated. It will no longer be just about gender identity, sexuality, values; I think it will be about the depth, the background and not the form. Could it be that we really know who we are and who we are being? There will be beautiful things, but it will also show the opposite of what we are capable of being. That is the door that I think we have opened.
Shop Edvard’s Collection
Photographer: Edvard Nielsen @edvard_nielsen_signature
Model: Ali Monterrosas @amonterrosas_
Makeup: Norman Aguilar @norman.makeup
Hair: Luis Rojo @rojogram_
Model: Ali Monterrosas @amonterrosas_
Makeup: Norman Aguilar @norman.makeup
Hair: Luis Rojo @rojogram_
