I stumbled upon this rather amusing post on designaddict.com which talks about Maarten Baas’s, recent Jully 2008 exhibition at Contrasts gallery in Shanghai.
While participating in Contrasts’ residency program, which brings Western artists to China to study local artistic and cultural practices, Baas became fascinated with traditional Chinese woodcarving; this exhibition is dominated by the results of this interest. His work pushes the boundaries of this time-honored Chinese craft, while also revealing the designer’s playful imagination.
Needless to say, these are some very interesting interpretations on Chinese furniture. The plastic garden chair in wood is just brilliant.
Personally, I like his smoke series in which wooden furniture has been burned with the remaining charcoal’ed pieces then preserved with a coating of clear epoxy.
Related Books:
Related posts:
- Traditional Chinese Costumes
- Shanghai Trade Show: Antique Furniture China 2009
- Furniture Repairs: Improper restoration causes this “Old Shanghai” table-top to buckle and split
- A brief history of colonial “old Shanghai” style Art Deco furniture
- Guide to Chinese Furniture – Part 1) What is considered an antique?
2 responses so far ↓
1 DD // Jan 13, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Couldn’t agree more. The garden chair is fantastic. I can’t believe it’s plastic!
2 idaho hermanmiller // Feb 8, 2009 at 5:50 am
Really? is it a plastic? I can’t believe it because it really looks like a wood..
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