Oligarchy Hierarchy
[ 2025 ]
Osmium Visionary Contest
My collection is a design satire that challenges both unbridled consumerism and ostentatious luxury, as well as conspiracy theories and misconceptions. Let’s start with the base of the Pyramid, with the "Golden Billion". Anyone who really wants to feel like they belong to this club simply has to buy the most expensive crumpled can in the world.
Representatives of the New Industrial Oligarchy — chip manufacturers — can proudly wear the most expensive chips in the world. It is unlikely that such a chip will be thrown into the trash after six months of use, like an "outdated" smartphone model.
We can also include the young, but rapidly gaining strength titans of the AI industries in this consumer category.
And finally, the all-powerful and most sinister of the Oligarchies. It is still in the cradle. The oligarchy from the black and yellow dystopias "Alien", "Blade Runner", "Total Recall"… The oligarchy, sometimes known to us under the faceless "Corporation". The Omnipotent and Omnipresent Corporation, sending people and robots into space to extract resources and controlling their destinies. After all, the future of rare earth metals, which we need so much right now, lies beyond the Earth. Corporate greed, and sometimes gluttony, is not a myth, but a reality, and the last three years have shown this very well.
We create jewelry from the rarest metal, while millions of tons of not the rarest metal — aluminum — continue to accumulate in landfills in the form of crushed cans. We create billions of units of cheap electronic waste, ending up in places like Agbogbloshie in Ghana.
I am a person of very progressive views. I am a committed AI advocate and 100% supporter of space exploration and rare earth metal mining from asteroids.
At the same time, through the lens of my design, I call for a close look at the oligarchies emerging before our eyes. I call for strict civilian control over technology like AI. I call for strict control over critical technologies like microchips — to prevent them from falling into the hands of regimes that use them for weapons and terror.
Representatives of the New Industrial Oligarchy — chip manufacturers — can proudly wear the most expensive chips in the world. It is unlikely that such a chip will be thrown into the trash after six months of use, like an "outdated" smartphone model.
We can also include the young, but rapidly gaining strength titans of the AI industries in this consumer category.
And finally, the all-powerful and most sinister of the Oligarchies. It is still in the cradle. The oligarchy from the black and yellow dystopias "Alien", "Blade Runner", "Total Recall"… The oligarchy, sometimes known to us under the faceless "Corporation". The Omnipotent and Omnipresent Corporation, sending people and robots into space to extract resources and controlling their destinies. After all, the future of rare earth metals, which we need so much right now, lies beyond the Earth. Corporate greed, and sometimes gluttony, is not a myth, but a reality, and the last three years have shown this very well.
We create jewelry from the rarest metal, while millions of tons of not the rarest metal — aluminum — continue to accumulate in landfills in the form of crushed cans. We create billions of units of cheap electronic waste, ending up in places like Agbogbloshie in Ghana.
I am a person of very progressive views. I am a committed AI advocate and 100% supporter of space exploration and rare earth metal mining from asteroids.
At the same time, through the lens of my design, I call for a close look at the oligarchies emerging before our eyes. I call for strict civilian control over technology like AI. I call for strict control over critical technologies like microchips — to prevent them from falling into the hands of regimes that use them for weapons and terror.
Jury
Katerina Perez
Founder and Editor-in-Chief, KaterinaPerez.com
(Global Jewelry Journalist)
Scarlett Clauss
CEO & Vice Director, Osmium-Institute Germany
Richard Reis
Luxury Jewelry Designer, Consultant, and Creative Director
(TheRichardReis)
Tania Chan
Contemporary Fine Jewelry Designer, Tania Chan Official
(Hong Kong)
Nadège Totah
Member of the Board of Directors and Curator of the Designer Village, GemGenève
(Switzerland)
Founder and Editor-in-Chief, KaterinaPerez.com
(Global Jewelry Journalist)
Scarlett Clauss
CEO & Vice Director, Osmium-Institute Germany
Richard Reis
Luxury Jewelry Designer, Consultant, and Creative Director
(TheRichardReis)
Tania Chan
Contemporary Fine Jewelry Designer, Tania Chan Official
(Hong Kong)
Nadège Totah
Member of the Board of Directors and Curator of the Designer Village, GemGenève
(Switzerland)
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