Ute van der Plaats is a German contemporary jewelry designer, living and working in Belgium. Porcelain, the white gold, is the main medium in her work. She is fascinated by the tension between the light and very fragile appearance and the actual strength and sustainability of porcelain. She likes to push the boundaries of jewelry making concepts by combining modern technologies with traditional craftsmanship. Jewelry is for her not mainly an adornment but first of all a medium to communicate with a broader public. Through her work she aims to start conversations about things or themes that are moving her.

This necklace is inspired by the “Paradise Papers”, a huge leak of financial documents that revealed how multinationals and wealthy individuals use so-called tax havens to avoid paying taxes. It deprives national economies of billions in tax revenues that are critical for keeping schools and hospitals running, providing social security to everyone, education programs, etc.

When talking about tax havens we usually think about Caribbean islands. It’s relatively unknown that also in Europe there are countries that are facilitating tax evasion through special rulings. The Netherlands, where I studied and lived for many years, was called out in 2019 by the European parliament as one of these tax havens.

My aim is to literally throw light on the subject in order to make the broader public aware of it in a playful way. To evoke a tropical ambiance, I create small scenes in china porcelain. Led lights are integrated in the centerpiece to bring the scenes to life. The lights work not only with regular but also with rechargeable batteries in order to avoid waste of batteries. Colorful collages allude symbolically to the Dutch involvement. I create them by hand cutting and assembling tiny pieces of authentic Dutch guilders, the beautiful pre-Euro currency of the Netherlands.