In 2009, at the age of 31, Maarten Baas became the youngest designer ever to be named Designer of the Year by Design Miami. His winning of the award proved that age is not pre-requisite for good design. In his latest exhibition, Grey Derivations, he is proving this again.
Showing at Mitterrand+Cramer/Design in Geneva until 24 July 2010, each piece in the Grey Derivations collection is made of grey and red pigmented resin on a steel frame. It includes bookshelves, a chair, lamp, cabinet and a desk with two horns that support the lid as a writing surface when opened.
The exhibition allowed Baas and the gallery to question the edition process in relation to the production process. Only the Grey Derivations Desk Light was partially produced using a mould. The other five works are unique handmade pieces with one artist proof that can be made slightly different for museums or prominent collections.
Baas’s style of working is spontaneous and intuitive, combined with high quality craftsmanship. It was his graduation project, Smoke, at the Design Academy Eindhoven that earned him the reputation for partially destroying classic design pieces by fire and then producing a new design from that. Baas is part of a generation of designers that don’t just make new things but transform those that already exist.
