ph. Marco Menghi

“May I Have Your Attention Please?” – this theatrical approach is a quintessential part of the Maarten Baas Milan circus.

ph. Leda Gabelli

On Occasion of Milan Design Week, Maarten Bass, in collaboration with Lensvelt, showcased his latest work by creating an installation titled ‘May I Have Your Attention Please?’ in a vaults in Ventura Cetrale design district, adjacent to one of Italy’s busiest railway stations.

The location’s rather grim and raw décor is transformed by BAAS with an entrance consisting of the best of BAAS: the new book, photography by Erwin Olaf and Anton Corbijn and his jubilee bronze CLAY chair.

“I’ve always felt like that’s my unique selling point – I have to cross new borders, try new things and discover new possibilities,” Baas told in an interview to Dezeen. “I will not lean back on a certain technique or a certain way of working.”

ph. Marielle Leenders

“I love to come up with charming and evocative titles. “May I Have Your Attention Please?” is an expression I like. It can be used by people talking in groups, or by a child who needs his mom’s attention. Attention is a need and a value nowadays. We seek respect and attention more than money. And this performance introduces a chair collection”

In the heart of the warehouse, BAAS by Lensvelt showed an installation of bullhorns which emit a cacophony of whispered voices.

«Human voices» says Baas «are indistinguishable – they are the sum of the people’s single energies. I believe we live in a world where too much attention is given to market rules, to economy and power. I’m not saying it is right or wrong. I say it is a very interesting phenomenon».

The installation is completed by the newest chairs by Maarten Baas, all individual unique chairs, just like the individual voices coming from the megaphones.

“Maarten Baas 101” chairs are especially designed by BAAS for Lensvelt. By tweaking the production process BAAS has managed to create a collection of chairs that can be produced in large quantities but still have their own individual identity.

ph. Xi Guan

“They are the same, but different. We are also made up from the same parts (arms, legs, a head) but yet again we aren’t identical. These chairs are unique, even in large numbers.” – Marteen Bass said.

ph. Carla Cotrim

The 101 Chair is available in different colors and finishing, just as the voices crowding our human world are infinite. What else remains to be said, except: express yourself!

About Maarten Baas

Dutch designer Maarten Baas was born in Arnsberg, Germany, in 1978 but moved to The Netherlands in 1979, where he grew up. Upon graduating from high school in 1995 he began his studies at the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven. Baas designed the candleholder Knuckle, which was taken into production by Pols’ Potten, while he was still studying. In 2000 he studied for several months at the Politecnico di Milano, in Milan.

In June 2002 he graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven with two concepts. One of them being the now famous and widely recognised Smoke series, for which Baas charred furniture and treated the torched skeletons with a coating, that turned them into useable pieces of furniture again. As an iconic collection of modern design, Smoke has been taken into several permanent collections of museums including the Victoria & Albert Museum, Groninger Museum and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

In 2005 Baas began collaborating with Bas den Herder, who is now responsible for the production and development of almost all of Baas’s designs. The founding of studio Baas & Den Herder made it possible to further work out Maarten’s unique, handmade pieces and to produce them on a larger scale. This new collaboration also allows Baas to take on even more ambitious projects for hotels, restaurants, galleries, museums and private commissioners from all over the world.

Since then, Baas has started working with other labels including Moooi, Skitsch and Established & Sons. Private commissioners include Adam Lindemann, Brad Pitt, Fabio Novembre, Ian Schrager, Li Edelkoort, Michael Ovitz and John McEnroe. Collaborations include companies such as Morgane Hotel Group and Dom Ruinart, galleries such as Galleria Rossana Orlandi (Milan), Cibone (Tokyo) and Moss (NY), and many museums.

At the end of 2009, Baas was the youngest designer ever to be recognised as Designer of the Year during Design Miami.

Baas lives and works on a farm in the countryside near Hertogenbosch.