Maarten Baas’ designs are smoking hot! This young Dutch designer graduated from the Eindhoven Design Academy in 2002. His graduation project, a series of burnt furniture called Smoke, caused a sensation and Baas’ career immediately took off.
Recently the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York has ordered some 200 Smoke Chairs. And at the Design Miami contemporary design fair, some special Smoke pieces will be exhibited. Technically, Smoke is very simple: existing wooden objects are scorched with a blowtorch, and then the charred surfaces are impregnated and sealed with epoxy.
At the Design Academy Baas experimented with crushing, melting and soaking items of furniture, and even tried throwing them off his balcony, before he settled on burning them. He perfected the technique in his garden, using the blowtorch to singe the surface of the timber and then quickly extinguishing it with water to prevent the flames taking hold. Since that time the Smoke project has continued to evolve and Maarten is not planning to stop burning furniture yet. Click here for his full collection and website. Smoke is sold at Unicahome, Moss and Dutch store VIVID.
very creative work!! just like my favorite brands, boca do lobo and delightfull. loved it!