| |
| |
Maarten Baas
A Peek Into the Mind of Some of the World's Top Designers
Story by Debra Kronowitz
Dutch designer Maarten Baas has impacted the world of design in an
unprecedented short period of time. Baas, 31, was recently named
“Designer of the Year” by Design Miami/.
The award recognizes a prominent designer whose work demonstrates
quality, originality and influence, pushing the boundaries of art,
architecture and design.
“The decision to give the award to someone as young as Baas might seem
controversial, but he has already changed the course of design history,”
said Wava Carpenter, associate director for Design Miami/.
“His work has transformed the way collectors understand the landscape of
contemporary design and has opened the market to a younger generation of
designers.”
While studying at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, one of his projects,
a candle holder called Knuckle, was taken into production. Baas
made design headlines with a 2002 graduation project, a series of
charred furniture called Smoke,
which was subsequently further developed in collaboration with New York
gallerist Murray Moss. Iconic and controversial creations within this
series include a charred 1934 Steinway grand piano reated for Murray
Moss, and the charring of an entire suite of antique furniture from the
Groninger Museum’s permanent collection for its exhibition,
Nocturnal Emissions.
“He has allowed more people to accept and respect young design. But he
is also a truly phenomenal talent who has all the qualities of a great
designer and whose work is consistently strong and varied. He has a
great sense of imagination and trusts himself to explore his ideas to
the maximum, constantly evolving while anchoring his work in a
craft-oriented approach. He has kept the design community gripped, like
a good movie where you can’t take your eyes off the screen, where each
project is like one excellent scene after another,” said Ambra Medda,
director of Design Miami/.
Baas’ furniture and sculpture are hand-made by Baas and his team of 10
assistants. Baas focuses on creating one new project each year, each
time exploring new ideas and media. Highlights include the Hey
chair, Clay Furniture series, in which each piece is modeled by
hand from synthetic clay, and the Sculpt collection, in which
items of furnitureare based on quick sketches and then enlarged and
translated into finished pieces on a monumental scale.
“I only do things if I think they can make sense,” Baas said of his
approach. “I always want to know how I can take things one step further.
I don’t really want to give things a name, explanation or description.
Categories are not relevant as far as I’m concerned. I make what I want
to make.”
A signature approach to his work is to experiment with a wide variety of
materials, applying new techniques that haven’t been tried before. An
example is his Plastic Chairin Wood series. The furniture is
hand-carved out of wood, but takes the form of a factory mass-produced
plastic chair.
His Real Time project involved
creating 12 hours of high-definition film. “It was a really difficult
technical challenge since I had no background in film and had to work
out how to present so much material in a way that could work on a Blu-ray
player,” he said.
Bass’ work has been exhibited at the Groninger, Stedelijk and Victoria &
Albert Museums and the Design Museum in London. He has also participated
in numerous international design fairs, including the Salone
del Mobile, Design Miami/ and the International
Contemporary Furniture Fair. |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
Photos courtesy of B&B Italia |
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
