Maarten Baas (b. 1978) is a Dutch designer. He graduated in 2002 from the Design Academy with a series of burned furniture called “Smoke”. His works were nominated for the internal “René Smeets- award” and also for the “Melkweg-award”. His Smoke series was adopted in the collection of Dutch label Moooi. Thanks to successful presentations in Milan, London and Paris, Smoke became known worldwide. Smoke furniture was bought by museums and collectors such as Lidewij Edelkoort and Philippe Starck. The Smoke chandelier was part of the exhibition “Brilliant” at the Victoria & Albert museum in London.

Maarten Baas’ pieces are all unique and handmade, though produced in series, most are signed and numbered by the designer. Maarten is looking for the boundaries of design, without leaning on the regular “dos and don’ts”.

In 2005 Maarten Baas started his collaboration with Bas den Herder, who became responsible for the production of all pieces. The foundation of studio Baas & den Herder made it possible to produce Maartens’ unique pieces on a larger scale, still mantaining the handmade production in the Netherlands. Assignments came from hotels, restaurants, galleries and museums all over the world. At the Salone del Mobile in 2006, Maarten launched Clay Furniture, which was considered to be the absolute successor of Smoke and one of the most surprising projects of the fair. In Milan, in April 2009, Maarten showed Real Time, a series of videos depicting a real-time clock, with actors moving the hands of the clock as time passes by. In 2009, Maarten was named Designer of the Year by Design Miami.