Maarten Baas

MAARTEN BAAS (Germany, 1978) for Moooi.
Armchair "Smoke" ("Smoke armchair").
Burnt wood covered with epoxy resin and leather upholstery.
Measurements: 113 x 70 x 60 cm.

With his "Smoke" series (of chairs and armchairs), Maarten Baas captures the beauty and character of burnt furniture in a solid and durable material. A born and daring experimenter, in this "Smoke chair" he combines classic forms (the cabriole front legs, the sinuous backs with carved wood coping...) that he reinvents under modern premises and endows with a singular strength by using unusual and effective techniques.

Born in Arnsberg, Germany, Maarten Baas moved as a child to the Netherlands, where he grew up. He studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven, and furthered his education at the Politecnico di Milano. During his student years, he created his first commercially successful project, the "Knuckle" candlestick. By the time he graduated in 2002, he already had two designs: the carbonized furniture series "Smoke" and "Sundial". His famous "Smoke" series is made by literally burning antique chairs and tables, then coating them with epoxy resin to preserve the charred remains. By eliminating all superfluous ornamentation, Baas manages to enhance the beauty of the design and bring the objects closer to their true purpose, like ordinary chairs and tables. The firm Moooi reproduced three of his works from the "Smoke" series, and exhibited them at shows in Milan, London and Paris. In 2004, Baas presented this same series in a solo exhibition entitled "Where there's smoke?" at Moss in New York. The show featured twenty-five unique pieces, some of them authentic and original designs by Gaudi, Eames, Rietveld and Sottsass. His most recent collection, "Sculpt," was launched in 2007 at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. This collection includes chairs, sideboards, tables and chests of drawers of disproportionate dimensions, well-finished furniture in which the ironic idea of the combination of wood veneer and metal structure underlies.