In the mid-nineteenth century, the Japanese artist Hiroshige immortalised, from every conceivable view, the most beautiful landscape that he knew, in the print series ’36 Views of Mount Fuji’. It inspired Ted Noten to develop 36 rings for as many specific types of women: the Femme Fatale, the nymphomaniac, the Suffragette, the Fashionista, the Shy. All clichés, archetypes and dreams are shown. From each archetype, Noten makes an associative portrait: a monumental collage, with sometimes more, sometimes less relevant ‘objects trouvés’. The connection between the materials used and traditional jewellery is lost: they materials range from shoes and tires, to porcelain figurines and plush toy animals.
Noten has exchanged his role as a visual artist for that of a jewellery designer when he changes the scale of the compositions of the original sculptures on the computer and makes objects in all possible materials and finishes. Heavily scaled-down versions become suitable to be worn around a finger or the wrist. On the basis of each collage is ultimately produced only one piece of gold jewellery. The designer comes into play when the same techniques are used to develop small batches in steel, nylon or titanium. Above all, the computer technology also provides the unprecedented luxury of producing rings and bracelets at exactly the right size.
With this project Ted Noten does not only seduce the 36 women, but he also seduces the lover of gold as well as a broader audience.
© Atelier Ted Noten
