Ted creates objects that are like no other "designer" jewellery or accessories. They are meticulously fashioned by hand, they are elegant and precious; but they also tell a story, expressing a deeply human grasp of the mysteries of existence and death, beauty and violence. Ted extracts profound beauty and an almost child-like delight from all kinds of things, natural or man made. Thus a newspaper fragment and a few precious items (a diamond, a pearl, some gold) are reunited in the "Paper-Head" rings with no preconceived ideas about their worth: what counts is the harmony of the end result, a visually appealing, thought provoking "ready-made".

The small, elegant "Fabergé Revisited" bag brings to mind the ornate costume accessories one can find in antique jewellery shops. But the broken goose egg, floating inside the plexiglas in which it is encased surrounded by little fake diamonds like shiny water droplets, is a burst of living energy, a tribute to creation and birth that ambiguously hints at its own destruction.

The "Global Tactile Pieces" diptychs, in which a suggestive photograph is "symbiotically" related to a piece of jewellery, are perfect examples of "wearable art works" that provide a solution to Ted's dilemma about jewellery versus art. Anne Frank's famous picture, for instance, so closely associated with Amsterdam's conflicted history, is "symbiotically" related to a pink pendant the delicate roundness of which suggests Anne's youthful, happy face. One can wear the pendant during the day and then hang it up in its case on the wall at night next to the picture.

Mercedes-Benz

"Is there any greater icon in the industrial world than the Mercedes-Benz? I don't think so. CEO's, real estate agents, small-time hustlers in the building trade, politicians, Mongolian drug dealers and Birmingham greengrocers: all around the globe they share the love for a Merc. More than any other ornament it symbolizes success and social status. These qualities attracted me to the Mercedes as an area for serious research." (Ted Noten, 2006. Gert Staal Publishers)

Ted Noten is fascinated with glamour and status symbols. He approaches them with contagious delight and a mischievous sense of humor devoid of condescending derision and political correctness. His "serious research" of the Merc has led to a collection of brooches made out of a cut-up Mercedes body. He dutifully presented his idea to the Daimler-Chrysler company, who were not amused…

Of Rats and Men

The rapport between humans and rats has been strained from time immemorial. The charms of Remy, Disney's character in the movie "Ratatouille" notwithstanding, people have always considered rats to be a menace. This hostility has not stopped the animals from proliferating and prospering alongside and in spite of humans, and so the two species have continued to coexist in an almost symbiotic relationship.

Having contributed to the dissemination of deadly diseases such as the plague and cholera, the rat is associated with the spectre of misery, death and decay. At the same time, its tenacity and superb survival skills have made of it a symbol of material success, albeit an evil one: the greedy, rapacious rat. Ted Noten's "RataSmile" carry-on bag alludes to all the aspects of this complex relationship. It can elicit an eerie feeling in a place like Venice, with its history of economic prosperity alternating with devastating epidemics. Moreover, in our highly politicized times the piece raises the awkward question of the roles played by rats and men in their hostile relationship: who is the aggressor?