New! Newer! Newest!

With an extremely time consuming production technique and a plot of 120 hectares Baas will again, this year, make an unexpected and obviously, very new move. #MDW2016

“What’s New?!” Since that question is asked so often, Maarten Baas wanted to find out what “New” actually is. “But, that’s not so easy because it’s all relative!”, says the designer. “In the end, I couldn’t tell the difference between a second and a century or a short hype and an everlasting change. But, I’m pretty sure I made something “new” here!”.

In collaboration with the Groninger Museum, Baas explores two concepts in which space and time are placed in a different perspective. With an extremely time consuming production technique and a plot of 120 hectares (approximately 200 football fields), Baas will again, this year, make an unexpected and obviously, very new move.

The NEW Forest is an exploration of time and scale. With new techniques (such as Google Earth or drones) we increasingly familiarise ourselves with the view of earth from above. From this perspective, one could see the planet as a sculpture, or a canopy as a canvas. For the NEW Forest, trees will be planted in a specific arrangement, selected by the colours of their leaves and their corresponding foliage. As the forest ages, a design will slowly arise. By 2216, the forest will be fully-grown and an aerial perspective will reveal a souvenir from the 21st century: a flashy logo saying “NEW!” Each season shows different colour combinations, generating a new NEW! logo for years to come.

The site for the NEW Forest is a plot of land of 100 hectares (approximately 180 football fields) on Flevoland, a man-made island in the Netherlands. The project will be orchestrated by Staatsbosbeheer (The Netherlands Forestry Commission) as part of the development of the ecological head structure.

The second project presented is the Tree Trunk Chair, that has a production time of 200 years. By pressing a mould into a tree for two centuries, the trunk will slowly grow over the form, after which the mould is removed and a chair can be harvested. By laying the trunk down, one can finally use this 21st century design.

The technique will be developed together with designer Gavin Munro (known for his Grown Furniture series). The Groninger Museum will be the caretaker for the Tree Trunk Chair for the coming centuries. The first tree will be planted this year by the Groninger Museum, in their Menkemaborg garden.

New! Newer! Newest!
12–17 April
via Tortona 33, Milan

New! Newer! Newest!

With an extremely time consuming production technique and a plot of 120 hectares Baas will again, this year, make an unexpected and obviously, very new move. #MDW2016

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