Design Miami was sensational this year and every gallery present pulled out all the stops to make their exhibition spaces spectacular and compelling. There was so much thought put into the spaces themselves and the design innovation and craftsmanship was of an extraordinary level but one designer took top prize in my opinion for creating two functional objects that were so poetic I was speechless. I’ve admired Maarten Baas‘ work for many years and purchased one of his burnt Argyle Chairs from 2005 for a client from MOSS in Soho in the past, but this year he created two clocks for Carpenters Workshop Gallery, a grandfather (in corten steel) and grandmother (in brass) that truly resonated with me. Expanding on the idea of a grandfather clock, he created his and hers versions with live characters inside the faces of these beautiful towers. Filming two actors in real time with digital equipment, Bass filmed them carefully writing the numbers by hand with a black marker denoting all 24 hours in the day and wiping away the drawings as the minutes pass by underneath a hazy etched glass face.
Grandfather Clock, 2013, corten steel and digital equipment, h90.5 l 25.5 w16.5 in limited edition of 8 + 4 ap
Detail of grandfather clock in cor-ten steel
Grandmother Clock, 2013, brass and digital equipment h78.7 l 28.4 w15.4 in
limited edition of 8 + 4 ap
Detail of grandmother clock
Continuing his exploration of sculpted forms Baas welded a COR-TEN steel grandfather clock and a patinaed brass grandmother clock. The Roman numerals on the face of the grandfather clock give it a stately presence while the softer numerals and curved shape of the tower give the grandmother clock a more sensual form. I took many images of both clocks watching carefully as the actor and actress hand drew the numbers and gently erased time and gazed at both pieces almost in a trance. Until the crowds grew larger and I gave others a chance to discover these fascinating pieces. Following are my images in sequence of both clocks evolution of time.
Sometimes form and function come together in very original ways and I think these pieces by Maarten Baas do just that!
Thank you so much to Marie Duffour and Carpenters Workshop for sharing these images with me and The Gilded Owl.