Design story

Smoke: what survives the fire

A familiar chair can remain recognisable after its surface has changed radically. Smoke works in that uneasy interval: the old form is still present, but its usual finish and associations have been interrupted. Baas made that interruption visible and then fixed the altered object in a new state.

Written and reviewed by PatinaHall2 minutes readPublished 23 October 2026

Editorial reconstruction of a blackened traditional-looking armchair whose carved outlines remain visible across a dark textured surface. — PatinaHall editorial reconstruction. It is not a documentary photograph. An invented blackened armchair illustrates recognisable form beneath an altered surface. It is not a Baas artwork, an identified antique or an instruction for reproducing the process.

On this page

Key facts & takeaways

At a glance

Subject: Smoke furniture
Entry: Design story
Last reviewed: 23 October 2026
Designed: 2002documented

Three things to remember

Smoke began as Baas's graduation work in 2002.
The documented process combines charring and clear epoxy resin.
Later commissions and Where There's Smoke are not identical to the first pieces.

Damage becomes part of the object

Smoke begins at a point where a furniture history might ordinarily end. Maarten Baas charred existing pieces and preserved their altered surfaces with clear epoxy resin. The damage became a visible part of a new object instead of a condition to conceal. His studio dates the first works to his graduation project in 2002.¹

The outline can remain recognisable while the surface changes the way it is read. A conventional chair shape carries an irregular black skin. Familiar form and conspicuous alteration coexist, leaving the viewer to consider which part of the object's identity has survived.

A museum gave particular objects another role

Groninger Museum describes Baas working with antique furniture from its collection, including a chair subsequently upholstered in leather. Its account records the charring and the transparent resin treatment. It presents a specific intervention in specific furniture, rather than a general prescription for old objects.²

That context is essential. A chair can have a relatively anonymous life in storage and then become conspicuous through an artist's intervention. Its new visibility does not erase its previous shape. The transformation depends on having something recognisable to alter.

Three chair silhouettes move from a timber colour to a blackened form and a dark preserved surface. — Original PatinaHall schematic, not to scale. A familiar form, an altered surface and a preserved result are stages in the project’s idea. The schematic gives no process settings or instructions.

Recognition changes the question

The later Where There's Smoke project included established designs by other furniture designers. Baas's studio connects that series with Moss gallery in 2004. A recognised design gives the alteration another kind of force: the viewer may already know what the piece is expected to look like.³

The result invites questions about care, permanence and value. Those questions do not have to share one answer. Preserving an object can mean maintaining a surface; in this project, preservation follows the deliberate changing of that surface.

The family has more than one beginning

Smoke includes the first graduation works, later commissions and interventions in different existing furniture. They should not be collapsed into one repeatable antique model. The initial object, the intervention and the later commission each contribute a layer to the history.¹

The technique described by the sources is part of professionally made work, not a procedure offered here for burning or coating furniture. The useful subject is what the altered surface asks the eye to notice. An object can remain familiar enough to recognise while becoming unfamiliar enough to make its earlier appearance worth remembering.

Research notesEvidence, connections and limits

Smoke is treated as a coherent project family, not one repeatable antique model. Museum and studio accounts describe professionally made objects; the article gives no instructions for burning furniture, applying resin or assessing safe use.

Evidence map

Connected subjects and evidence

Reviewed facts

Designed 2002documented
Smoke is treated as a coherent project family, not one repeatable antique model. Museum and studio accounts describe professionally made objects; the article gives no instructions for burning furniture, applying resin or assessing safe use.
Reviewed 23 October 2026 by PatinaHall editorial.
- Source 1Smoke: graduation project and subsequent commissions

Reviewed connections

Smoke furnituredesigned byMaarten Baasdocumented
The cited record identifies the designer of this design or coherent project family.
Reviewed 23 October 2026 by PatinaHall editorial.
- Source 1Smoke: graduation project and subsequent commissions
Smoke furnitureuses techniqueWood charringdocumented
The studio describes charring followed by preservation as the project process, without supplying a user procedure.
Reviewed 23 October 2026 by PatinaHall editorial.
- Source 1Smoke: graduation project and subsequent commissions

Research trail

Sources and further reading

Smoke: graduation project and subsequent commissionsMaarten BaasAccessed 23 October 2026
Smoke fauteuil, collection item 23461Groninger MuseumAccessed 23 October 2026
Where There's SmokeMaarten BaasAccessed 23 October 2026