Maarten Baas
Maarten Baas is a German designer, living and working in the Netherlands. He studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven, and at the Politecnico in Milan. His first commercial success, the Knuckle candleholder, was created whilst he was still a student.
His famous Smoke collection is made by literally setting fire to old chairs and tables before coating them in an epoxy resin to preserve the charred remains. By stripping away ornament Baas diminishes the hands-off preciousness of design and brings the objects closer to their true purpose, as common tables and chairs. In 2004, Baas debuted his Smoke series as a solo-exhibition called Where there's Smoke?, at Moss in New York. The exhibition had twenty five unique pieces, some of which were classical designs by Gaudi, Eames, Rietveld, and Sottsass, all torched by Baas.
In 2006, he launched Clay Furniture at the Salone del Mobile, Milan. The Clay series takes the idea of functional imperfection from the smoke series. He hand molds a clay composite around basic metal structure such as chairs, which differ with every piece. His newest collection Sculpt was launched in 2007. This collection includes oversized chairs, cupboards, tables and chests-of-drawers.
Baas' work can be found in the collections of the following institutions amongst others:
Vitra Design Museum , Weil am Rhein
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Collection Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris
Cafesjian Center for the Arts, Yerevan, Armenia
Graphic Design Museum, Breda
Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Centraal Museum, Utrecht
Available works by Maarten Baas
Available Artists
- Albers Anni
- Andre Carl
- Avery Milton
- Baldessari John
- Bell Larry
- Brice Lisa
- Calder Alexander
- Crawford Brett
- Dadamaino
- Dávila Jose
- de Tollenaere Saskia
- Downing Thomas
- Dyson Julian
- Francis Sam
- Freud Lucian
- Gadsby Eric
- Gander Ryan
- Gilliam Sam
- Guston Philip
- Haring Keith
- Held Al
- Hockney David
- Kapoor Anish
- Katz Alex
- Kelly Ellsworth
- Knifer Julije
- Kruger Barbara
- Kusama Yayoi
- Le Parc Julio
- Leciejewski Edgar
- Léger Fernand
- Levine Chris
- LeWitt Sol
- Lichtenstein Roy
- Mack Heinz
- Maripol
- Martin Agnes
- Martin Jason
- Martin Kenneth
- Mavignier Almir da Silva
- Miller Harland
- Morellet François
- Motherwell Robert
- Nadelman Elie
- Nara Yoshitomo
- Nemours Aurélie
- O'Donoghue Hughie
- Pettibone Richard
- Prehistoric Objects
- Prince Richard
- Quinn Marc
- Riley Bridget
- Ruscha Ed
- Scott William
- Scully Sean
- Shrigley David
- Smith Anj
- Smith Richard
- Smith David
- Sonnier Keith
- Soto Jesús Rafael
- Soulages Pierre
- Taller Popular de Serigrafía
- The Connor Brothers
- Turk Gavin
- Vasarely Victor
- Warhol Andy
- Wesselmann Tom
- Wood Jonas
- Wool Christopher
- Yiadom-Boakye Lynette