Maarten Baas

Dutch designer Maarten Baas (19/02/1978) was born in Arnsberg, Germany but moved to The Netherlands in 1979 where he grew up. Upon graduating from high school in 1996 he began his studies at the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven. Baas designed the candleholder Knuckle, which was taken into production, while he was still studying. In 2000 he studied for several months at the Politecnico of Milan.

In June 2002 he graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven with two designs. His two design works comprised of a series of charred furniture, popularly known as the Smoke series and an ingenious sundial, displaying the hours in shadow. His works were nominated for the René Smeets and Melkweg design awards. This led to his collaboration with a group of former Design Academy students, with which they were rewarded during the Design Week in Tokyo.

Three of Baas’s Smoke works have been reproduced by Marcel Wanders’s international design company MOOOI. It is thanks to the international exposure of successful exhibitions in Milan, London, and Paris that the Smoke series is considered by museums, critics, collectors and the design-informed public an iconic collection of contemporary design